A Second Neko
by Lachenna
Summary: Sequel to "Of Cats and Witches". Now that the witch who cursed Allen has been found, it's time for Allen and Kanda to move on with their lives, together. Mpreg. AllenxKanda.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Notes:

Here you go: the long-awaited sequel to "Of Cats and Witches". For those of you who haven't read that story yet: go do that before you get into this one. This story very much assumes that you know what happens in that story. You can try to read this first if you want, but it'll probably be confusing.

As the description says, and many of you reviewers guessed: this story contains mpreg. It's time for Allen and Kanda to have a kitten.

A note on timing: this story starts about four months after the end of "Of Cats and Witches". That story ended in January (a little ironic as the last chapter was actually posted in January) and this one starts in May.

I plan to post new chapters to this story every other Thursday. As always, you can find updates and my posting schedule on my profile.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

~Beginning of May~

Waking up to a face full of white hair and my Moyashi's skinny body wrapped tightly in my arms was one of the best things in the world. His cat ears twitched in his sleep and I could feel his tail wrapped around his leg. Mornings like this made me want to skip my meditation routine and just lay in bed with my Moyashi at my side. It was a beautiful reminder that even though we occasionally fought and said cruel things to each other, the neko loved me. And that even after seven months together he hadn't grown tired of me and my possessive need to hold him like he might disappear on me. _'Normal people consider cuddling a sign of affection, Yuu.'_ Yes, mornings like this were the best.

I forced myself out of bed. While I loved Allen, skipping my morning routine would only make the idiots around me stupider, and I had things to do today that required me to at least pretend to be a nice; dealing with my apprentice was not something I wanted to do without the proper preparation.

As I began preparing for my meditation, the Moyashi suddenly woke up and bolted from the room. While it was odd that he would be awake so early, I didn't put any thought into it and continued getting dressed. He probably just had to use the restroom. A thought Timcanpy clearly shared as the little golden nuisance made no move to follow its master.

I headed that direction when I was ready, intending to brush my teeth and fix my hair before heading to the meditation room. That plan went out the window when the first thing I heard upon entering the bathroom was the sound of someone throwing up.

Normally I wouldn't have paid any attention to whatever poor sap had gotten himself sick, but a tight feeling in my chest made me worry about Allen and the way he had suddenly run from the room. I glanced around the bathroom and sure enough, there was only one stall occupied. And there was only one person in the entire Order who had a white cat tail.

It was hard to listen to my Moyashi be violently ill. I didn't interrupt him though; showing concern and feeling it were two very different things, and I was barely ok with feeling it. I followed my routine, brushing my teeth and fixing my hair, solely for something to keep my hands occupied, otherwise concern and curiosity were going to drive me crazy.

When Allen emerged from the stall, he headed for the sink. I surveyed him while he rinsed out his mouth and cleaned himself up. He didn't look sick. Sure, he was a little paler than normal, and he looked exhausted, but definitely not sick.

The Moyashi jumped when he turned around and saw me. The fur on his tail bristled and his ears shot straight up, he was really startled. "Oh god. Kanda. What are you doing here?"

"Waiting for you to finish throwing up."

Allen's whole body drooped and he buried his face in his hands. "You heard that?"

"I think the whole wing heard." I pulled the neko into a hug. "Are you ok?"

"Well I just spent the last fifteen minutes puking my guts out. If I say I'm fine you're not going to believe me." He glared up at me. "But I am..."

Allen's face paled further and he pushed himself out of my arms. He ran straight for the stall he'd occupied earlier and threw up in the toilet. He didn't bother to close the stall door behind him, giving me more than an eyeful.

"You're right, I don't believe you." He sat back on his heels and glared up at me. It just made him look more pathetic. I leaned against the door frame. "How long has this been going on?"

Allen sighed. "About a week."

"A week?! Why didn't you tell me you were sick?"

"You just got back last night! And I was gone before that. When was I supposed to have told you?!" He paused his rant to vomit once more. He sighed. "I figured I'd be over this by now..."

"And what exactly is _this_?"

"I wake up early with the need to throw up. Then I spend half an hour or so puking my guts out. But once it's over I'm mostly fine for the rest of the day."

I had to wait through another bout of vomiting before I could question him. "'Mostly'?"

The Moyashi was silent for a moment. When he spoke, his voice was really quiet. "Sometimes I get so tired that all I want to do is go back to bed. I've done hardly any training this week."

Whatever it was that was ailing the Moyashi was bad if it was making him skip out on training. "There's something else, isn't there?"

He ignored me. Pushing away from the toilet, he walked to the sink and rinsed his mouth out again. I stared at him until he answered the question. "... I haven't eaten breakfast in a couple days. I can't stand the smell of the cafeteria in the morning."

.x.x.

Kanda suddenly grabbed my arm and started dragging me out of the bathroom. "What the hell, Yuu! Where are you taking me?!"

He rolled his eyes at me. "The infirmary. If _you're_ skipping meals this thing is really bad."

"I already went to the infirmary, Bakanda." I yanked my arm out of his grasp. "They said it's just a stomach bug and it'll pass in a couple days."

He grabbed my arm again. "Then I'm taking you to Komui."

I pulled away when he tried to drag me off. "No! Why should I do that?!"

Kanda narrowed his cobalt eyes at me. "Because of your Innocence. Because you're half cat. Because there are lots of things that could be wrong with you that the doctors wouldn't know about."

Once again, I had to stop him from pulling me off. "Fine! I'll go see Komui! Just stop trying to drag me! I can walk just fine!"

Kanda held the door open for me then practically shoved me out into the hallway. He followed me all the way down to Komui's office. There was no answer when I knocked. Kanda reached past me and threw open the door, revealing Komui asleep at his desk. He gave me a pointed look, so I went inside and closed the door, knowing that Kanda would stay outside until he was convinced that I was actually talking to the supervisor. Seven months together and it was still weird to me that he actually worried about me.

Waking Komui up was a pain, but once he calmed down, he was at least easier to deal with. "Ah, Allen-kun. What brings you to my office at ... Five in the morning?! What are _you_ even doing awake at this hour?"

"There was an incident with Kanda in the bathroom. He practically dragged me down here." I sighed and turned toward the door. I could hear Kanda on the other side of it. "I'm talking to Komui! You can go away now!"

He opened the door and leaned against the frame. "Not gonna happen, Moyashi."

 _If he was going to come in anyway, why didn't he do it from the beginning?_ I sighed and collapsed in the chair across from Komui's desk. The purple haired man looked back and forth between me and Kanda, before settling his gaze on Kanda. "What exactly is the problem?"

"I found the brat in the bathroom, puking his guts out. Apparently he's been like that for a while." Kanda turned his glare on me. "Can you tell him the rest, Moyashi, or do I need to do it for you?"

"Just go away, Bakanda."

He glared at the supervisor and myself once more before turning around and leaving. I had to force myself not to react to his beautiful ponytail as it followed him out of the room, or to the whispered words that were so quiet only I could hear them. "Good luck Allen."

I turned back to Komui with a sigh. He was waiting patiently for an explanation. "I've been throwing up the past few mornings. I've also been unusually tired. I went to the infirmary; they said it's just the stomach flu. But Kanda thinks there's more to it because I've been skipping meals."

"He's probably right." Komui came around his desk and placed a hand on my forehead. He left it there for a moment before moving away. "Because you're part cat, your body temperature is higher than the normal person's. The infirmary doctor probably didn't know that and incorrectly diagnosed it as a fever. But you don't have one, which makes the flu even more unlikely."

Komui returned to his desk and pulled out a pen and paper. "Now, tell me all your symptoms, and don't leave anything out no matter how unimportant you think it might be."

I told Komui everything I told Kanda earlier. I told him about feeling sick when I went in the cafeteria, about the times I was so tired I napped all afternoon, about how my vomiting was usually nothing more than dry heaving because my stomach was almost always empty in the morning. And as embarrassing as it was, I told him about how it felt like I had to pee a lot more often than usual.

After writing everything down, Komui came back around the desk and looked over my Innocence arm. When he was done with that, he pulled out a stethoscope and listened to my heart. He put it away with a sigh. "Nothing appears to be wrong with your Innocence. When was the last time you activated it? Was it before or after the sickness started?"

"It was on my last mission, so about the same time, probably a little after."

"Did you notice anything different about it?"

"No."

"Then for the time being, it's safe to rule it out as being the cause." I sighed in relief; he wasn't going to be pulling a giant drill out anytime soon. The relief faded instantly though, when I noticed Komui's smirk. "I'm just going to need to take some blood, and then I should be able to figure out exactly what's wrong with you."

I cringed and looked away. "Just get it over with."

I practically held my breath while he stabbed me with a needle and filled a vial with my blood. It never quite made sense to me how that little needle could bother me more than anything else in Komui's arsenal.

"I'm done. You can breathe now." I glared at Komui as he laughed at my discomfort. "I'll go run some tests on this. In the meantime, you should go to the cafeteria and get something to eat." I blanched and he smirked at me. "I can always call Kanda and have him drag you down there."

I sighed as I stood up. "Fine. I'll go. There's no need to call that bastard. How long do you think the tests will take?"

"Not long." Komui smiled at me. "If you come back when you've finished eating I should have something for you."

I closed the door behind me and forced myself to walk to the cafeteria. The smell assaulted me when I reached the doors. It was early, so it wasn't as strong as it had been, but it still made my stomach turn. Unfortunately, I couldn't turn around and leave. I wouldn't put it past Komui to ask Jerry whether or not I actually ate. Plus Kanda was inside waiting for me. And he'd already seen me.

.x.x.

Komui sat in his laboratory, going over the reports from the tests he'd done on Allen's blood. He was having trouble making sense of them. Notes were scribbled and scattered all over the desk.

He looked up from the papers when he heard the door open, but got back to it when he saw that it was just Reever.

The blond man in turn was slightly panicked at seeing the supervisor working in his laboratory. His best bet was to find his book and get out of there quickly. But as he looked around the room, he noticed that both the robot parts and the potion bench were untouched. "Hey Komui. What are you working on?"

"Just some routine paperwork. Nothing important." Komui didn't lift his eyes from the desk.

"Wait. You mean you're actually working?!" Reever got closer so he could actually see such a rare sight. And what he saw was definitely odd. "Who's pregnant?"

Komui practically screamed as he leapt from his stool. He grabbed Reever by the shoulders and shoved him out of the room, locking and barring the door behind him. Reever went on his way, thinking nothing of the supervisor's erratic behavior.

The Australian's rather bizarre observation had been the break Komui was looking for. The Chinese man went back to the desk and dug a file out from the pile of paperwork, not caring about all the other papers he knocked over in the process. He flipped through the pages quickly, searching for a sheet he'd hidden there seven months earlier. As soon as he found it he pulled it from the file, comparing it to the blood test he held in his other hand.

His spontaneous theory was right, but Allen was not going to like it at all. He was going to have to find a way to explain it that wouldn't freak the teen out. And after all the bad news he'd delivered to the boy in the past three years, he was running out of those.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I'm glad you all like it so far!

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

The white haired neko and the purple haired scientist sat across from each other in the latter's office. Neither said a word. Allen's mind was running through all of the possible worst-case scenarios, while Komui's was focused on where to start. He decided to pick up where they left off. "Did you get something to eat?"

Allen frowned. "I did. It wasn't much compared to how I usually eat, but I kept it down."

Silence fell again. This time it was Allen who broke it. "Get on with it already Komui. What's wrong with me?"

The purple haired man sighed. Suddenly he remembered something he was curious about, and knowing that the teen would become uncooperative once he learned the news, he decided to act on his curiosity first. "There's actually one more thing I need from you. Would you lie down on the couch so I can feel your stomach?"

The boy blinked at the strange request. "Sure... I guess..."

The pair moved over to the couch, Allen lying down and pulling up his shirt to expose his toned midsection. Komui reached down, but the second his fingers brushed the skin, the teen flinched away. Both men were surprised by the reflex. Allen apologized, he had no clue why his body reacted like that, but Komui had his suspicions. "It's ok, Allen-kun. I got what I needed. You can get up now."

The neko fixed his shirt as he followed the supervisor back to his desk. "So? What's wrong with me?"

Komui sighed and removed his glasses. "Absolutely nothing."

Allen was shocked, but it was nothing compared to the horror he felt with Komui's next words. "You're both perfectly healthy."

"'Both'?!"

"Yes. You and your baby."

 _'Baby'?_ So Komui was saying that he was... "What the _hell_ are you talking about, Komui?!"

"You're pregnant."

Allen gaped at the supervisor, words completely failing him. Komui saw this, so he kept talking, knowing that the teen would catch up eventually. "Based on the levels of the hormones in your blood, you're approximately five weeks along."

The last thread of hope that Allen had in thinking this was some elaborate joke snapped. The supervisor was being uncharacteristically serious. This was really happening. He really was ... pregnant. "Wha-? Bu- How? How is that even possible? I'm male!"

"I'm sorry. I probably should have told you sooner. But you were so unstable at the time that I thought you might cause yourself harm if you knew."

"'If I knew' what?!"

Komui slid an open file across the desk. "This is from the tests I did when you first became part cat."

Allen picked up the file, reading for himself the page that described how his internal organs had changed to resemble a _female_ reproductive system. The file crashed to the floor when he reached Komui's hand written note that indicated that conception was possible.

The pieces came together quickly in the teen's agitated mind. The curse that made him part cat had also given him a womb. And that womb was now carrying a child. Kanda's child. _Oh god. I'm going to have to tell Kanda._ And Komui had known all along that pregnancy was possible. "How could you have kept that from me?!"

The Chinese man sighed. "I'm sorry, but you seemed suicidal at the time. I figured you were better off not knowing."

"If I had known, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now!" It was true, if Allen had known that it was possible for him to get pregnant, they would have been using protection.

Komui let the teen calm down a little before speaking. "You asked about how. I'm more interested in who."

Allen blinked. "What do you mean?"

"It takes two people to make a baby, Allen-kun. Who's the father?" It wasn't just curiosity that made the supervisor ask. He'd held a certain suspicion ever since the boy first showed up with cat ears, and now he was afraid that it had actually happened, that Allen Walker had been raped.

Allen reached a new level of panic. In the past ten minutes he had gone from thinking he was sick to learning he was pregnant. And now he was going to have to confess to being gay. There was no way around it; the only way he could have gotten pregnant was by having sex with another man. "Wh-why do you want to know that? It's not important, is it? Do... do I have to tell you?"

"No, of course not. You can wait until you're ready. There's no need to go over this now." The way Allen relaxed at those words confirmed Komui's suspicions. He handed the teen another file. "In fact we don't have to talk about it at all. You can do it in writing if you'd prefer."

Allen looked suspiciously at the file. His eyes widened in horror as he read the words written on the first page. Then he hurriedly shut the file and tossed it onto Komui's desk. He was mortified by what the supervisor was suggesting. "I wasn't raped."

"It's ok, Allen-kun. You experienced something traumatic. No one's going to think less of you for what you went through."

"But I wasn't raped!" Letting Komui think _that_ was far worse than the Chinese man finding out that he was gay.

"You're just saying that because you're confused." Komui spoke softly. "We can talk about this at another time when you're not so worked up."

Allen sighed and kept his mouth shut. He saw that nothing he could say would make the supervisor believe him.

The room fell silent. While Allen continued trying to wrap his head around the idea that he was pregnant, Komui was plotting new ways to find out who raped the neko now that the direct approach had failed.

"What happens now?"

Komui looked up at the barely audible words. He blinked a few times. "For starters you'll be taken off missions. We can't let you go out in the field while you're pregnant. Actually, it's best if you don't leave headquarters at all until after the baby's born. In the meantime, we'll get you moved to a larger room, one that's better suited for you to raise your child in. And I'm sure Johnny will be thrilled to whip up some maternity and baby clothes for you."

The more Komui talked, the more panicked Allen felt. "Komui! Stop! You're acting like I actually want this!"

"Sorry. I guess I got a little carried away." Komui put his glasses back on, and moved to sit next to the teen. "You do have other options; it was just so obvious which you would pick that it didn't occur to me that you wouldn't know what they were."

"What do you mean, it's obvious?"

"You don't have to have the baby. You could have an abortion." Komui knew from the blank look on Allen's face that the teen didn't know what that was. "It's a medical procedure. We'd remove the unborn fetus from your uterus."

"You mean you'd kill the baby." Allen felt awful even thinking about it. He may not have known how he felt about being pregnant yet, but he did know that he couldn't just let them kill an innocent child.

"Yes, that is what that means. And I know you could never go through with that." Komui placed a hand reassuringly on the neko's. "And no one's going to make you. That gives you roughly eight months to decide whether or not you want to keep the baby."

"And if I decide I don't want it?" Even with how conflicted he was, that sounded almost as awful as killing it. It reminded Allen of how painful his life on the streets had been.

"Then we'll find a family somewhere that does want it. There is one major problem with that though." Komui took his hand off Allen's, moving it to the teen's head where he began to scratch his ear. It was an action they both knew would keep the neko calm. "Your child will most likely be half cat like you are. If that's the case... Even if we somehow manage to find a family that wants it, it'll have a really hard life."

Neither said anything. They both knew that Allen knew firsthand what he was talking about. He knew exactly how hard it was to grow up physically different from everyone else.

"What about Central?" Allen wasn't particularly concerned with them at the moment, but he needed to keep the conversation going or he'd have a mental breakdown.

"You're not the first exorcist to get pregnant. There are protocols in place. They'll respect whatever decisions you make regarding your baby." It was only partially a lie. As the Order was a branch of the Catholic Church, Central would never knowingly allow one of the exorcists to have an abortion. Komui left that part out because he knew that Allen didn't need to know that, the neko had clearly already decided that abortion wasn't an option.

Komui knelt down to pick up the spilled file, it was too important to leave on the floor. When he was done, he turned back to Allen, who hadn't moved. "You were up early this morning, and I know you've complained about being tired, so go to your room and get some sleep. I'll have Lenalee bring you some food later; you can't be skipping meals while you've got a little life depending on you." At the look Allen gave him he continued, "I won't tell her. You need time to process this before you think about telling anyone."

.x.x.

I fell asleep the second my head hit the pillow. My head was really screwed up and being unconscious was definitely the easiest way to deal with it.

When I woke it felt like the morning had been a bad dream. But the tray of food that had appeared in my room broke that illusion really quick. The lunch was accompanied by a note from Lenalee saying she'd been told not to wake me and that she'd devise a fitting punishment if I didn't eat the food.

I collapsed back on the bed. Fortunately, Neah had finally figured out that I didn't want him to try to comfort me every time I got upset and was actually leaving me alone; though I knew it was only a matter of time before he learned what was happening. But either way, he was the least of my worries at the time.

 _This is actually happening. I'm actually ... pregnant. There's a child growing inside me. A baby. That just seems so impossible..._

I snorted at my train of thought. _Yeah, right. I've already lived through so many things that were far more impossible than that._ I was a critical breaker with a parasitic Innocence, which had never happened before. My Innocence had saved my life of its own will. I'd survived a Noah possession. I was cursed by a witch who then turned out to be my biological mother. The alcoholic, womanizing Cross Marian was my actual, biological, father. And to top it all off, I was in a loving relationship with someone who was generally regarded as an unfeeling, heartless bastard.

The word "impossible" practically described my entire life. And when I thought of it like that, my sudden pregnancy made perfect sense. Just another impossible thing for my list. That didn't mean I was happy about it, far from it, but accepting that it was happening meant I wouldn't be wasting time and energy and brainpower trying to deny it.

I was snapped from my thoughts by something landing on me. Forcing myself to look down, I saw Timcanpy nestling into the blankets on top of my stomach, a strange action that he had picked up over the last couple weeks... I scowled at him. "You knew all along, didn't you Tim?"

He grinned as he snuggled closer to me. I groaned internally. Of course he did.

Ignoring him, I sighed and heaved myself off the bed. Pregnancy aside, I really was hungry. It took me no time at all to devour the small pile of food that Lenalee had brought.

When I was stacking the empty dishes I found a note tucked under the last plate. From the flowery handwriting, I knew it had to be from Jerry.

 _Allen_ , _don't think I haven't noticed that you've been skipping breakfast. That kind of thing isn't good for you or your little one._ _Don't worry about the morning sickness; I'll be sure to cook you wonderful things that won't upset your delicate tummy. So come see me when you're feeling better._ _~Jerry_

 _My "little one"? ... Komui told him I'm pregnant. Wonderful._ But then again, the idea that Jerry could cook something in the mornings that wouldn't make me nauseous was certainly appealing. And he knew how to keep a secret. I could see how having the chef looking out for me was going to be a good thing.

I put the note down by the pile of dishes. I'd deal with them later; at the moment, all I wanted to do was sleep.

As I lay back on the bed, ignoring Tim when he settled onto my stomach, I found my thoughts drifting to Kanda, like they usually did when I was away from him. Only these thoughts weren't pleasant. Not when I couldn't stop thinking about the pregnancy.

What would Kanda think when I told him? Because I did have to tell him. I'd never hear the end of it if he heard about it from someone else.

My mind kept going to the worst-case scenario until I was thoroughly convinced that it was the only possible outcome. Kanda wasn't going to want a baby. He wasn't going to want a pregnant boyfriend either. No, he was going to leave me once he found out.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews. Here's the next chapter. It's time for Kanda to find out what's wrong with his Moyashi.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

The Moyashi wasn't waiting for me when I returned from my daily mission. Normally that wouldn't be strange, but I knew he was at headquarters. Komui wouldn't have let him leave while he was sick.

Trying to recall what little he'd told me about his illness, I headed to Allen's room. If he hadn't been eating and he was too tired for training, then he must be there.

He didn't answer when I knocked, but when I went in, I found him curled up on the bed with his back to the door, Timcanpy in his arms. It was hard not to get distracted by the view. Now was not the time to be thinking about how gorgeous the neko was. "I'm back, Moyashi."

Aside from a slight twitch of the tail, Allen didn't react. Apparently the brat didn't think I knew when he was fake sleeping. I sighed and sat down beside him. "You're such a troublesome brat, Moyashi. Just tell me what Komui said, and then you can go back to being mad at me for whatever it is I did that upset you."

That time I was rewarded with a sniffle. I leaned over him and saw the trails on his face, he'd been crying. The last time I saw him that upset was when he became a neko. "Oi! Allen! What's wrong? It can't have been that bad..."

There was a mumble and a muffled sob. I began rubbing his ears, if that didn't calm him down then it would at least annoy him into talking to me. After about ten minutes he finally spoke. "You're going to leave me."

I blinked at the words. "What could possibly be so bad that it would make me break up with you?!"

Another few minutes passed before Allen pushed my hand away. He sighed longingly as he let go of my fingers, almost as if he was saying goodbye to them. "I'm pregnant."

"What the fuck, Moyashi! This isn't the time for jokes!" There was something about his body language that was creeping me out.

He blinked once, slowly and deliberately. "I'm not joking."

I felt the blood drain from my face. The Moyashi was pregnant? But he was male! And that was something that I knew better than anyone else. "How is something like that even possible?"

"...because I'm half cat..."

"Oh." That was all there was to say. It unfortunately made perfect sense, and it certainly explained his mood. He had adjusted so well to that, and now it was screwing with his life again.

It also explained the rather odd situation in which I now found myself. My Moyashi was carrying my child. _But why does that sound so good? Shouldn't that be a bad thing? Shouldn't I be horribly disturbed by the news that a fellow_ male _is pregnant?_ But the more I thought about it, the more I realized: I actually wanted this. For some unknown reason that I couldn't even begin to explain, I was thrilled to be having a baby with Allen.

A soft sob made me realize that from his perspective my silence wasn't a good thing. "How far along are you?"

Allen narrowed his eyes at me, suspicion written all over his face. "About five weeks."

.x.x.

Kanda was being weird. Why was he showing interest in my condition? Shouldn't he have left already? "So then it happened around the time of that mission in Belgium? Or was it the one in Russia?"

I looked up at him, completely confused. "What are you getting at?"

He blushed and got a little flustered. I would miss seeing that side of him when he left. Then he suddenly growled. "Look. Is it my baby or not?"

It was my turn to blush. He'd been trying to figure out when I'd gotten pregnant. "Of course it's yours! I would never sleep with anyone else."

Kanda was not acting at all how I thought he would. He leaned over and kissed me. "Good."

Then he got up off the bed. But he didn't leave. I sat up so I could see what he was doing, setting Timcanpy on the bedside table in the process, and found him digging around in his jacket pockets. He found whatever it was he was looking for and tossed it in my lap.

I slowly picked up a little square box. It was a plain blue, and only a couple inches wide. I tore my eyes away from it when Kanda sat back down on the bed. He was clearly waiting for me to open it. I stared back down at the little box, suddenly burning with curiosity. Kanda had never given me a gift before. Why was he choosing now, while I was an emotional wreck, to suddenly do so?

I pulled the lid open and the box immediately slipped out of my fingers. It landed on its side and the little silver band slipped out. I gaped up at Kanda. There was a happy smile on his face. "It's good to know I can still surprise you, Moyashi."

While I struggled to find words, he picked the ring up off the blankets. "Wha-? Why? Why would you buy me a ring?"

"Because I hate seeing people flirt with you. I thought that maybe if they knew you were taken they'd stop. I saw it at a marketplace today and thought it would make you laugh. It wasn't meant to be anything serious, just a joke, but now..."

Everything went slow motion as it hit me that Kanda was proposing. Suddenly just remembering to breathe became incredibly difficult.

"I need you to know that I'm not going anywhere. I want to be with you. And our baby. I'm not going to let you do this alone. I love you, Allen Walker. I-"

I leaned over and kissed him, not caring that I interrupted him. He so rarely actually said those words. And it made me feel so stupid. I should have known that this man loved me so much that he would choose to accept the baby. I should have known he wouldn't leave me.

He broke the kiss to slip the ring on my finger. "I guess I can take that as a yes."

I stared at the strip of silver on my finger; it almost felt like it would disappear if I blinked. The whole thing was such an unusually affectionate display for the samurai. "You're being weird."

Kanda laughed. "Coming from you, I'll take that as a compliment." He pulled me between his legs and wrapped me in his arms. I leaned back against his chest. "Besides isn't that the normal thing to do?"

"Huh?"

"Isn't getting married the normal thing to do when you find out you're having a baby?" His hands slid down my sides and untucked and unbuttoned my shirt, not stopping until they were resting on my bare stomach.

It was a strange feeling knowing there was a baby in there. It was also completely terrifying. I was responsible for the well-being of that innocent life. "Nothing about this is normal. I'm a man. I shouldn't be pregnant. This is... It's just so... Why is this happening to me?"

Kanda smirked. "I thought you wanted kids, Moyashi."

"Not like this!" I'd had enough of his hands reminding me I was pregnant, so I pulled them away from my abdomen. "I wanted to be a father not a-!"

"Mother?" He whispered the word in my ear. It made me cringe.

I glared up at him. "And I thought you _didn't_ want kids. Why are you being so calm about this?"

.x.x.

"First of all: I said that I didn't want to have kids in the middle of a war, not that I didn't want kids. And second: who said I was calm?" I practically growled at him. "I may not be as freaked out as you are, but I assure you that I am definitely _not_ calm."

Allen was upset, and he had every right to be. It was going to take time for him to get used to the idea that there was a child growing inside him.

In his current mood, anything I said about the baby would be taken the wrong way. I certainly couldn't tell him that the reason I was worked up was because I was excited by the idea of a mini Moyashi running around. For the time being it was best to pretend I agreed with him on everything regarding the baby. But in order to do that I needed to make him tell me what he was thinking. "I probably should have asked this before I asked you to marry me, but are you going to keep the baby?"

The Moyashi sniffled a little, and then forced the tears back with a sigh. "Komui says I don't have a choice."

"Why not?" That seemed like an odd thing to say, even for the supervisor.

"The baby is going to be half cat like I am." I smiled inwardly. Our child really would be a mini Moyashi.

I took his hands in mine and moved them so that his palms were placed against his flat stomach. From the way he flinched, he hadn't done that yet, but I kept my hands on top so he couldn't pull his away. "So when are we going to tell everyone?"

"You want to tell people?! What about the whole 'they'll kill us for being gay' thing?"

"We're having a baby. No one's going to care about that anymore."

He sighed softly. "How can I be expected to tell anyone when I'm too scared to talk to _Jerry_ about it?"

"Jerry knows?" I felt myself becoming angry that he'd told someone before I got home, but the Moyashi interrupted my panic attack.

"Komui told him. He wants to talk to me to make sure I'm eating properly."

I surveyed the pile of plates nearby. "If that's all you've eaten today I can see why." I began nudging him off the bed. "It's nearly dinner time. Go talk to him before the rush starts. The rest of this can wait till later."

.x.x.

Kanda scowled sternly at me until I left the room. Then he followed me to the cafeteria. He was not going to let me get out of this.

My stubbornness caved as soon as I got close enough to smell the food in the cafeteria and I realized just how hungry I was. I may not have wanted this thing to be growing inside of me, but it was an innocent life that was completely dependent on me to take care of it. If I was barely eating enough for my own needs, there was no way it would survive. And if it died because I wasn't taking care of myself... Well, that was worse than killing it.

I dumped the dishes from lunch, then went into the kitchen. This was not a conversation I wanted to have through the window where anyone who wanted to could see it. The door closed behind me and Jerry turned to shout at whoever had come into his kitchen without permission. He stopped when he saw it was me though, and I was immediately wrapped in a tight hug.

He led me to a quiet corner where there was a small table. I was pushed into a chair and a glass of water was placed in front of me. "Now Sweetie, drink that, and explain to me what's going on in that head of yours that makes you think it's ok to skip meals."

"I'm not doing it on purpose; I certainly don't _like_ feeling so sick to my stomach that I can't eat." I sighed and drank the water. "I'm always hungry in the morning. Especially after being woken up by the need to vomit. I don't know why, but when I come down for breakfast the cafeteria just smells so nauseating that I have to turn around and leave before I throw up again."

Jerry nodded as he refilled the glass. "Pregnancy can mess with your sense of smell, Allen, and with as strong as yours is, it's not surprising that it's affecting you like that. Now, is it the overall smell of food that's making you sick, or is it the smell of a particular item?"

"I think it's one specific thing, because it only bothers me at breakfast, but I never stick around long enough to figure out what it is."

Jerry nodded a few times, he seemed deep in thought. I sipped on the water while I waited for him to speak again. "I have some ideas for what might be causing it. I'll take care of it." He gave me a look. "But if you're still bothered by it tomorrow, you have to at least come get food to take back to your room. No skipping meals while you've got a little baby depending on you."

I sighed. "I know."

"Now, go join your friends." He refilled the water glass and handed it to me. I didn't take it from him and was rewarded with another look. "You have to make sure you're drinking plenty of water. Dehydration will make the nausea worse and could cause problems for your baby."

"Oh." I took the glass from Jerry. I hadn't known that.

The chef smiled and guided me towards the door. "I'll send someone out with your food. Remember to come back if you're still hungry."

I nodded and went out into the cafeteria. Kanda was sitting with Lenalee and Camilla, and the Chinese girl waved when she saw me. I went over and joined them, hoping that Lenalee wouldn't immediately pester me about why she'd had to bring me lunch. "Hey Allen. Are you feeling better?"

I forced myself to smile at her. "I am. Thank you, Lenalee."

She shook her fork at me. "You're lying. But Komui said asking you questions about it would make things worse, so I'll let it drop for now. But you better tell me what the hell's going on when this is all over."

"...Fine."

I didn't want Lenalee, or anyone else, to ever, _ever_ find out that I was pregnant. It was going be thoroughly humiliating when they did: Lenalee would fawn all over me and Lavi would tease me every chance he got. And Camilla would be worse than the two of them put together, simply because she would know that it's Kanda's baby. If it were possible, I would never tell them. Ever.

But I wasn't stupid; I knew it wouldn't be possible to keep this a secret forever. I was having a baby, they'd find out eventually. But if I had my way that wouldn't be for a _very_ long time.

"Moyashi." I perked up at the name, noticing that my food had arrived while I was spaced out. Kanda looked ready to throw something at me. "Stop thinking so hard. You'll hurt yourself."

"My name's Allen, Bakanda." I stuck my tongue out at him then began digging into my food.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Your reviews are all great! Thanks!

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

I was summoned to Komui's office when I had finished eating. I walked calmly down the hall, Timcanpy flying along beside me; I was tired of talking about my situation, but if the supervisor had more to say then it was probably something I needed to know. For the third time that day, I sat down in that uncomfortable chair. My hands in my lap began their nervous habit of playing with the tip of my tail.

"Are you feeling better Allen-kun?"

I narrowed my eyes at Komui. "Can we skip all that? Just tell me what you called me down here for."

"Ah, yes, of course." He cleared his throat. "I ran some more tests on the blood I took from you this morning."

I was instantly worried, this wasn't going to be good. But the supervisor smiled at me. "Don't give me that look, Allen-kun. It's nothing bad. I was calculating dates. We need to know when your baby was conceived and when it's due. It's only a rough estimate, calculating the dates from your hormone levels isn't as accurate as the other methods, but since you're not female it's the best we've got."

I only understood about half of what Komui said, but I did get that he knew when I'd gotten pregnant and when the baby would be born. After talking with Kanda earlier, we both wanted to know that first one. But that didn't make me any less nervous to find out. "And?"

"Your little one should be ready to join us in the middle of January." _January?!_ I knew it was going to be long, Komui had said eight months, but January seemed so much further away than that. It was only May after all!

"But again, because you're not female, it's not that simple. You're not actually going to be able to give birth. We'll have to arrange a surgery to safely remove the child when the time comes." Apparently I looked as frightened as I felt, Timcanpy nuzzled my ear and Komui quickly kept talking. "We don't need to talk about that now though. It's several months away after all, and there are other things to discuss."

He handed me a file. Given what the two I'd read earlier had said, I took it hesitantly. My own handwriting filled the first page; it was the report from a mission in Dublin roughly a month ago.

Komui was talking, but I couldn't hear him. I was reliving that awful moment when the accommodator I'd been protecting died at the hands of the Noah. It wasn't just a failed mission to me. I only knew him for a couple days, but I had grown attached to that little boy.

I couldn't stop a couple tears from falling. "Wh-why did you bring this up?"

Komui sighed sadly. "I was hoping to talk to you about it."

"Why?"

"You were a mess when you returned home from it. There's something you left out of your report."

I shook my head. "No, there isn't. I wrote down everything that happened."

"You're not in trouble, Allen-kun." I was confused over how serious he was being. "I don't blame you for leaving it out."

"What are you talking about?"

"This is the mission you were on at the time you got pregnant."

It all made sense now. He was still on the rape thing. "I need you to get this straight, Komui. I. Wasn't. Raped. The sex that led to me being like this was completely consensual. I wanted it just as badly as he did."

"You don't have to pretend, Allen-kun. If-"

I cut him off. I wasn't going to listen to any more of that. "Is there anything else, Komui? Or can I go now?"

He stared critically at me for a moment. "There are two more things, actually. You're going to need to have weekly checkups so we can make sure that you're staying healthy and your baby is growing properly."

I nodded. "And what's the other?"

"I want you to tell Lenalee, Camilla, and Lavi what's going on."

"No."

"They're your best friends. They can help you with this."

"I don't want them to know."

"At least consider it-"

"No!" I got up and left.

.x.x.

Allen getting called to Komui's office put quite a dent in my plans to drag the neko back to my room and spend the rest of the evening "celebrating" our engagement. I headed to the meditation room. If my plans were being postponed then I needed a distraction.

Meditating proved to be impossible though. My mind constantly wandered to my Moyashi. I couldn't stop thinking about the pregnancy. When I closed my eyes all I pictured was what the brat would look like when he began to show, his belly swollen with my child. It was not helping my pent up frustration.

Of course that's about when it occurred to me that I might not be able to do what I was wanting for the next several months. I had no clue whether or not I could have sex with my Moyashi while he was pregnant. For all I knew, it could be bad for the baby.

There wasn't any way for me to find out either. Being women, Lenalee or Camilla might know, but there was no way I could ask either of them without having to tell them why, and that would be too embarrassing. I knew General Cross would know, but even if I wanted to contact him (which I most definitely did not), he'd embarrass me more than the women would.

I gave up on meditation and returned to my room. The Moyashi came in as I was lying down on the bed. He locked the door and was on top of me in an instant. He kneeled above me, straddling my hips. It was a position that meant he wanted sex. A thought that was confirmed by Timcanpy's absence. "Moyashi. We can't."

"Why not?" He lowered himself just enough so that we were touching through the fabric of our pants.

We both moaned at the feeling. "What about the baby?"

He gave me a look. "I'd kinda like to forget about that for a while, do we have to talk now?"

I moaned as he ground into me. "That's not what I meant, Allen."

"Huh?" His cat ears twitched as he blinked at me. It was adorable.

I sat up and pulled myself out from under him. "Is it safe for us to do this while you're pregnant?"

"Of course it is." He leaned over and kissed my neck.

I pulled away and frowned at him. "Look, I can't just take your word for it. I know you don't want the baby." He had never actually said that, but I knew him well enough to have picked up on the feelings.

The look on his face was conflicted, like he couldn't decide whether to cry or hit me. "I may not want this, but I hoped you'd know me well enough by now to know that I would never intentionally harm an innocent child."

I felt supremely stupid. If there was one thing I knew about Allen Walker it was that he cared far too much about the lives of others. I should have known that same care would apply to the baby he was unwillingly carrying. "You're right, I should have known that. I'm sorry."

We locked gazes, his silver eyes softened and he sighed. "I've seen Cross with the occasional pregnant lover. It's perfectly fine for us to have sex while I'm like this."

The mood was gone though. We so rarely had real fights, and neither of us liked having sex after one of those, it ruined the moment.

The Moyashi broke the silence that had settled over us. "Dublin."

"Huh?" I looked over at him, but he was staring off into space.

"Earlier. You wanted to know which mission coincided with me getting pregnant. That's the answer: Dublin."

"Are you sure about that?" There's no way that was a coincidence.

He shook his head. "Not really, that's just the one Komui fixated on. It could have been the ones before or after."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Moyashi. The night you returned from that mission was the only night that week where I was on top."

His ears perked up. "Really? I thought we did it more than just the once."

I laughed and ruffled his hair. It baffled me that he could pull off that much innocence while talking about sex. "We _did_ , Moyashi. But that's the only one that matters because _you_ were on top for the others." He stared at me blankly, so I flicked his ear. "You had to be on the bottom to get pregnant, Moyashi."

"Oh. Right." He blushed lightly. "Then yes, that's the night it happened. Why does it matter to you?"

"It's just that... The day you returned from that mission. That's the only conversation we'd ever had about kids before today." I took his left hand in mine, and I couldn't help admiring the way that silver ring contrasted with the black skin. "And that's the day you got pregnant. It can't be a coincidence."

Allen's silver eyes widened. "Go on."

"If the curse is the reason why you were able to get pregnant then that means that it's been possible for quite some time. Especially since we've never once used protection." Allen smiled sheepishly at that statement. "It seems really strange that the night it actually happened is the one night we sat down and decided we wanted kids."

.x.x.

~April~

I stepped out of the ark gate after a long day of searching for new accommodators and training my apprentice. The Moyashi was supposed to be returning from his mission today. He'd been gone for several days and I missed him.

But he wasn't waiting for me by the gate. And he wasn't in the cafeteria either. He must have gotten delayed. I ignored Camilla and ate my soba alone, then headed to my room to change before going to the training room; that's where the Moyashi would expect to find me if he did get home tonight.

I opened the door to my room and was only slightly surprised to see a lump of white curled up on my bed. It was one of those random cat mannerisms the boy had picked up, and it happened often enough that I no longer found it strange. It wasn't all that surprising to find the Moyashi crying his eyes out either. But the combination of the two, that was worrisome.

I stepped swiftly to the bed and sat beside him. "Moyashi? What's wrong?"

He only sobbed louder. There might have been words mixed into the cries, but I couldn't tell. I rolled my eyes, but pulled the neko into my lap. "Shh. Allen. I can't help you if you don't calm down and tell me what happened."

I held Allen in my arms while he collected himself. The sobs died away, but he barely got two words out before he started crying again. I sighed, not bothering to keep my annoyance hidden. "Ok, I'll start. Three days ago, you left for a mission in Dublin. The finders there thought they had found an accommodator. You were sent to investigate and bring the accommodator back with you. No one went with you, so I'm guessing it was a test, a way for Central to see how you'd handle something that's normally a general's task."

Allen nodded. "They... they wanted to see if I could recruit someone new."

"That's stupid." I snorted. "Five exorcists have joined since you did, and you had a hand in all of their recruitments."

He nodded again. "That's why Komui let me go. It should have been easy for me to handle alone." He let out a sob.

I rolled my eyes; I had to keep him focused. "So you went to Dublin. The finders took you to the suspected accommodator. What was he like?"

"He..." The Moyashi sniffled, but held in the cry. "He was five years old."

"Oh. That's awful." It truly was. This wasn't a life for a child. And I knew where the story was going now: a child was dead.

"His name was Nolan. He was an orphan with a parasitic Innocence... Just like me." He pressed closer into my chest, and I held him tighter. "It only took one conversation to get him to come with me. He'd been hurt, but he was still so sweet and trusting. And I..."

"You got attached." He finally looked at me. There were tears in his eyes softening the expression of suspicion. I laughed lightly. "Moyashi, you got attached to a doll. Of course you'd care too much about a kid that reminded you of yourself."

"Right..." He sighed. "Nolan was adorable. Once he'd discovered my cat ears, he insisted on being carried on my shoulders where he could pet them."

The image the story brought up was adorable. It made me sad the kid was dead, an alien feeling I blamed on the Moyashi. "And you let him? You must have really liked the kid."

He stifled another sob. "Last night, we were attacked. I left him with the finders while I fought off the akuma. I thought he'd be safer in the barrier than with me."

The neko began crying again, so I pieced together the rest of the story. "There was a Noah."

Allen nodded. "Nolan died when his Innocence was shattered. I didn't get there in time."

"That doesn't mean it was your fault."

"It feels like it was." He started crying again. "I should have-"

"No. Don't go there." I wiped the tears from his cheek. "It wasn't your fault. You did exactly what you were supposed to do in that situation."

"But-"

"Moyashi. If there were enough akuma to keep _you_ busy, none of us would have done any better." Truthfully, I might not have even tried to save the kid. "And this may be cruel, but the kid is probably better off dead."

The Moyashi was silent. He wasn't crying, just thinking. "You may be right about that, but it doesn't make this any easier. For those three days, I had something I wanted more than anything, the future seemed so bright. And now... ...well at least I still have you."

"You wanted us to raise that kid as our own." Damn, the brat really had gotten attached. I scowled down at him. "What the hell made you want that?"

He looked back at me, his teary silver eyes wide with honesty. "I've always wanted kids, Yuu. That's my only regret about being gay, not being able to have one of my own. I thought this was my chance to finally get to be a dad."

"Moyashi. The middle of a war is no place to raise a child."

"I don't care." He pushed himself out of my arms and got up off the bed. "I hoped you would understand."

I stood up and hugged him. "I do understand. I want kids too, Moyashi. I would love to find some orphaned brat and raise it with you. But as long as we're stuck in this place, that can't happen."

"Then when the war is over?" His silver eyes sparkled with hope.

"When the war is over." It wasn't ever going to happen: this war would never be over, but I agreed nonetheless. I leaned in and kissed him.

Our coats were on the floor in a matter of seconds. The kisses never stopping as the rest of our clothes joined them, piece by piece. My hair tie was the last to go, the long strands cascading down around our naked bodies.

I pulled Allen down on the bed, on top of me so that I could play with his tail. A few tugs were all it took to get him moaning. He ground his hips into mine, his fingers finding that sensitive spot below my rib cage that made my cries drown out his. I pushed his hands away quickly; ever since he had found that spot, he'd been topping a lot more often. Not that I minded, but tonight was my turn to be in control.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I apologize for the lack of lemon in the previous chapter. I tried several times to write it, but it just didn't work out. Anyway, we're back in the present and it's time for something interesting to happen...

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

I woke up in Kanda's arms, the warmth and comfort making me wonder why I'd even woken. Kanda's heartbeat was slow and steady. It was early enough that he was still asleep. The previous day was completely forgotten in the moment.

That ignorance faded fast as the nausea bubbled up inside me. I sprinted for the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet in time. I lost what little dinner was left in my stomach. _Morning sickness._ I was throwing up because I was _pregnant_.

I cried while I continued to be sick. This whole thing was awful, and the vomiting turning into dry heaving only made it worse. I didn't want to be pregnant, but there was nothing I could do about it. Not while I cared about protecting innocent life. And definitely not when Kanda wanted the baby.

That was my only consolation in all this. Kanda was going to stay with me. I wasn't doing this alone. I watched that silver band sparkle as I rinsed my mouth and washed the tears from my face. I wasn't going to lie to my fiancé about my feelings, but that didn't mean I had to let him see me cry.

He had though. He was leaning back against the bathroom door, waiting for me to finish. I must have woken him when I got up, his hair was a mess and his shirt was on backwards. And he seemed angry.

I backed away, my ears flattening against my head. "I'm sorry, Kanda, I should have been quieter. I didn't mean to wake you."

"You didn't wake me, Moyashi. That's the problem."

I blinked at the unexpected statement. "Huh?"

"You didn't wake me, but you should have." He ran a hand through his tangled hair while he yawned. "I don't want you to do this alone. And that means accompanying you to the bathroom when the morning sickness hits. Even if it is three in the morning. Understand?"

I didn't. "You _want_ to watch me vomit?"

He laughed and pulled me into a hug. "Not particularly. But I can't sleep when I know you're suffering because of our child. Waking up to an empty room just now was awful. I don't want to feel that kind of worry again." He kissed the top of my head. "I'd much rather endure the unpleasantness of being woken at an ungodly hour and watching you throw up, than be left to wonder if you even made it to the bathroom."

That kind of unreasonable worry was something I understood well. I wrapped my arms tightly around him. "Thank you."

"Can we go back to bed now?"

I wanted to laugh at the half-asleep whine, but instead I found myself running towards the toilet. I knelt on the cold floor and heaved yet again.

Kanda was by my side in a second. He helped me to my feet when I was done. I leaned against his chest and cried. One of his hands pulled me closer while the other caressed my right ear.

I didn't notice that he was leading me away until we were already back in his bedroom. He pulled me down on the bed, and we both fell asleep as I sobbed in his arms.

When I next woke up it was light outside and the bed beside me was empty. I didn't have time to contemplate where Kanda had gone, I was once again hit with nausea and rushed to the bathroom. It was now late enough that there were other people there. But I only vaguely noticed that I cut in line, and no one cared once the vomiting started.

I ignored everyone when I had finished, I was in no mood for sympathy or concern. Instead, I headed to my room for a change of clothes. I wanted to crawl back in bed, but I knew that I needed to go down to breakfast. Both for my sake and the baby's.

I bumped into Komui as I was leaving my room. From the way he reacted, I could tell he was up to something, but as long as I was left out of it, I didn't care. "Ah, good morning Allen-kun!"

"Good morning."

"Have you thought any more about what we discussed last night?"

"There was no need to. My answer won't change." He was either talking about my supposed rape or about telling my friends. Either way the answer was the same.

Komui sighed. "You really should tell them, Allen. They can help you."

"I don't want them to know."

"Is that really the case or are you just afraid to tell them?"

 _Why would I be scared to tell them?_ I'd been afraid to tell Kanda, and ended up engaged. Telling Lenalee and Lavi would be a piece of cake compared to that. "I. Don't. Want. Them. To. Know."

I walked off. If he wasn't going to listen to me then there was no point in continuing to talk with him.

The cafeteria was busy when I reached it. True to Jerry's word, whatever smell had been bothering me was gone. I felt instantly better. My bad mood disappeared and I was able to smile when I ordered my breakfast.

.x.x.

It had been a while since I'd last been urgently summoned to my brother's office. I sat in the empty chair between Lavi and Camilla. Kanda was there too, leaning against the wall like he was annoyed. Whatever was going on was bad if Komui thought it was more important than Kanda's general duties.

But someone was missing. "Isn't Allen joining us?"

"No." Komui shook his head as he closed and locked the door. He looked at each of us in turn. "Before we start, you need to know that what I'm about to tell you needs to be kept secret. You are not to repeat a word of what I say to anyone. Understand?"

"What about Allen?" We were being sworn to secrecy, and that made his absence even stranger.

Komui visibly faltered. Kanda snickered at him. "If this is what I think it is, the Moyashi might just kill you."

We all turned to stare at the samurai. Komui blinked. "You already know?"

"He told me last night." Kanda shrugged. "I thought he was messing with me until you called us all here."

Komui seemed to struggle with the idea that Kanda already knew whatever it was that he'd been about to tell us. "He _told_ you? _Why?_ When I spoke with him this morning he was very against telling anyone."

Kanda merely shrugged again. "I was the one who dragged him to you in the first place. Did you think I'd let him get out of telling me what was going on?"

"And what _is_ going on?" Lavi was as frustrated as I was. "Some of us are still in the dark here. Why don't you start from the beginning and clue us in?"

"Allen really doesn't want you to know about this." Komui sat at his desk. "I'm going to tell you anyway, because you need to know. You're his best friends. He's going to need your help."

I looked at Kanda for a hint as to what was going on, but his stoic expression only told me that he agreed with my brother.

"We discovered something new about the curse that turned Allen into a neko."

Lavi and I both reacted in surprise, while Camilla just seemed confused, but Kanda snorted in annoyance. "The Moyashi was pretty adamant that you knew about that all along. Don't pretend it's a recent discovery."

I was getting really frustrated with the two of them. And I was scared that something was horribly wrong with my best friend. "Nii-san. What's going on?"

He sighed. "Allen's pregnant."

"WHAT?!" _Allen's ...pregnant?! He's going to have a baby?! How is that even possible?!_ I looked over at Lavi, he looked incredibly freaked out, even more so than I felt.

"The curse that turned Allen into a neko also changed his insides, making it possible for him to conceive and carry children even though he's male." Komui was more serious than I'd ever seen him before. This was actually happening. "He's about five weeks along, due in the middle of January."

"But how did it happen? Who's the father?" I knew Allen was gay, but he'd never told me that he'd met someone. And there had to be a second person involved.

"That's where you four come in. He won't tell me. I know he was raped, but that's all I can get out of him. He might talk to one of you though."

We were all silent. For some reason learning Allen was raped upset me more than finding out he was pregnant. And it was safe to say that the others felt the same.

Kanda broke the silence. "What happens to the Moyashi if he _wasn't_ raped?"

Komui clearly didn't understand the question. I did though. "He's asking what happens if the sex was consensual. Because that would mean that Allen's gay..."

"And according to Church teachings homosexuality is punishable by death." Camilla said what I had been too scared to say, her face completely devoid of emotion. She must have been trying really hard to keep herself calm.

Komui sighed sadly. "In theory, nothing would change because Allen's an exorcist. But because it's Allen... The only thing I can say for sure is that nothing would happen until after the baby's born. I'll look into it, but the priority should be figuring out who's behind the rape so that it doesn't happen again."

I looked over at Kanda, and I could tell he was thinking what I was. Allen wasn't raped. He was just too scared of the consequences of being gay to say anything. Silence was his only way to protect his lover. But it struck me as odd that Kanda would express concern over Allen. Sure, they were friends now, but Kanda never showed concern over anyone, much less _Allen._ "I'm surprised at you Kanda. Worrying about Allen like that. Be careful or we might think you care."

He rolled his eyes. "Of course I care. I've put too much work into keeping that brat alive to let it go to waste over something like this."

"That's good to hear!" Komui was being overly cheerful about something, my guess was he was about to make Kanda regret what he'd just said. "I need the four of you to make sure Allen is taking care of himself and the baby. That means making sure he's eating right, and that he's not doing things he shouldn't. I'm going to work it so that one of you is always here with him. Now Kanda, I know I can't order you to do anything because you're a general, but as you've so graciously admitted that you care, I expect you to act like it and work with us on this."

"Fine." Kanda grumbled and stormed out.

Komui dismissed us, and Lavi returned to his work for Bookman, still looking like he'd seen a ghost. I set off to find Allen. I was confused by everything I'd just heard, but mostly I was hurt that he hadn't told me himself. I knew _why_ he had kept his mouth shut, but that didn't exactly make me feel better, I was supposed to be his best friend.

Passing the library, I was hit with inspiration. Allen might push me away, but if I brought _that_ with me, he'd have no choice but to talk to me.

.x.x.

I was lying on my bed, too awake to sleep, but too tired to do anything. I couldn't help glaring at my stomach. My current state was definitely the baby's fault.

A knock on the door broke me out of my thoughts. It wasn't Kanda, he would have immediately come in, but I wasn't expecting anyone else. When I opened the door and saw Lenalee there, with that strange look on her face, everything clicked. "Komui told you."

"He did." I groaned and flopped back on the bed. She was going to want to talk.

"Are you ok?" I glared at her. After everything that had happened in the last seven months, I was _really_ sick of hearing that question.

She came in and closed the door. "Right. Stupid question. Of course you're not ok. You just found out you're pregnant. I'd be pretty freaked out, and I'm female. This must be life-shattering for you." She smiled softly. "Will you talk to me about it?"

I didn't answer. I didn't have the words to tell her just how much I didn't want to talk. Lenalee laughed lightly as she sat on the edge of the bed. "I figured as much."

She didn't expect me to talk? Then what did she want? She held out the book she'd brought with her. "That's why I brought this."

I sat up and took the book from her. It looked just like any other book, but I almost dropped it when I saw what it was about. Lenalee had brought me a pregnancy book. She placed a hand gently on mine. "It seemed safe to assume that you don't know much about what you're going through. I thought it would help."

I blinked at her. I may not have realized it until she put that book in my hands, but she was right, I knew nothing about pregnancy. "Thank you."

"Just promise me you'll come to me if you ever need someone to talk to. I don't care if it's something as simple as complaining that your feet hurt. I want to help, even if just a little." She squeezed my hand.

I nodded. I didn't have any intention of talking to her, but pushing her away would have been stupid.

Lenalee stood up and took the book from me. She opened it up and handed it back. "That's probably where you want to start." She kissed the top of my head. "Good luck."

"Oh and Allen?" She paused at the door. "I won't ask who, because I know you won't say. But will you at least tell me-"

"He wants the baby." I smiled reassuringly at the concerned look she gave me. It was more information than I wanted to give her, but I knew that in her worried state she wouldn't go away until I gave her _something_. "I'm going to be fine, in that respect at least."

She smiled and left. I turned my attention to the book on my lap. I was embarrassed to read it, but my curiosity and fear left me no choice. I needed to know what was happening to me.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Thanks you guys! Your reviews make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. :)

To Matharose111612: I'll get into that in more detail in later chapters, as Allen being pregnant complicates everything, but yes, that's the basic idea.

To hisuiryuu: Yep, Kanda's not happy right now.

And speaking of how "not happy" Kanda is...

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

I went to meditate after the meeting. I knew at least one of Allen's friends would be approaching him and I didn't want to interrupt that. The façade would break if I did.

After seven months together, I was tired of hiding my feelings for the Moyashi from everyone. Knowing that he was carrying my child only made those frustrations worse. However, until he was convinced that nothing bad would happen, I couldn't publicly claim him or my baby.

My meditation was interrupted by someone clearing their throat. After spending almost every day with her over the last five months, I knew that voice well. I opened one eye to find Camilla leaning against a nearby pillar. She was standing in that defensive pose of hers, the one meant to remind me that even though I was her general, she was still older than I was. That combined with the expression on her face put me on edge. "Allen's pregnant?"

I sighed and relaxed out of my meditation pose. I knew from experience that the Italian woman wasn't going to go away any time soon. "Apparently."

"And you're...?"

When she didn't finish the sentence, I raised an eyebrow at her. Camilla let out a frustrated sigh. "Ok, fine. I don't know what the rest of that question was supposed to be. Obviously, you're the father. And obviously, you haven't exploded, which must mean you're accepting of this whole situation. So, umm..., have you proposed to him yet?"

My eyes widened slightly at the question. "What are you-?"

"I saw you buy the ring." Camilla's words startled me; I thought I'd done a good job of hiding that from her. "Don't think I didn't know what it was. I've been waiting for weeks to hear that you popped the question, but you apparently chickened out. So, did your impending fatherhood give you the push you needed?"

"Che. If you really were as observant as you claim to be, you'd have noticed that he was wearing it at dinner last night." Technically, I wasn't going against the Moyashi's wishes. Komui was the one who blabbed about the baby, and Camilla had known about our relationship for months. Besides, I was saving my own skin. Telling her that I had proposed would keep her from accidentally telling the Moyashi that I had lied to him. I was not ready for him to find out that I'd actually been planning on proposing.

"Alright, there's no need to be so testy about it." She laughed as she spoke and then she hugged me.

She actually hugged me. I glared at her. Only Allen and Lenalee, and sometimes Teidoll, were allowed to touch me like that.

But before the curses came out of my mouth, she backed away. "Oops, sorry. Got a little carried away. But you may as well get used to physical contact now. It won't be that long before you've got a little one running around. And if it's anything like Allen, it's going to want to climb all over you."

"Are you finished?" I growled at her. "Don't get too excited. You're not even going to be able to hold the baby."

Obviously misunderstanding me, Camilla began to pout. "That's not fair. I was just joking around-"

"The baby's going to be a neko, Camilla."

"Oh."

She talked for a little bit longer about the baby, and when I absolutely couldn't take any more, I ordered her to go outside and do some training. I did a brief meditation exercise to clear my head, and then I went to find Allen.

I don't know what made me think of it, but instead of heading for his room, I went back to Komui's office. I leaned against the doorframe and cleared my throat to make the supervisor look up. "Have you called the Moyashi's mother yet?"

He blinked at me. "Why would I do that?"

I didn't bother keeping the annoyed expression off my face. "Because she's the one who cursed him. She might be able to answer the questions he has about what's happening to him."

Komui blinked, and I could tell he'd forgotten my presence. "Why didn't I think of that?"

I stood there for a moment watching him bustle around, clearly looking for her contact information. "Komui. Don't tell her anything. Let the Moyashi do it. He's already pissed that you told us, there's no telling what he'll do if you do that again."

A brief nod was the only indication that he heard me. I had no idea if he would actually keep his mouth shut, but if I said anything more then he would notice that I was acting out of character. At least he was doing what I wanted.

With that accomplished, I trekked back to the Moyashi's room. He was so engrossed in a book that he didn't even hear me come in. I sat on the bed and pulled his feet onto my lap. Curious at his lack of reaction to my presence, I pulled the book out of his hands. It was far from what I expected it to be. He was reading a pregnancy guide. "Where'd you get this?"

He took the book back and stuck his tongue out at me. "Lenalee brought it to me. Now leave me alone."

I pulled the book away yet again. I almost felt bad about it, the Moyashi definitely needed to read it, but what I had to say couldn't wait. "Not just yet, I have some things to say first. Why didn't you tell me that Komui thinks you were raped? And why would you let him think that?"

Allen groaned and buried his face in his hands. "I've done everything but tell him it was you that I slept with. He won't listen to me. He thinks I'm traumatized." I didn't miss the way he glared at his stomach through his fingers. "I suppose I am, but it's not for the reasons that he thinks. The next eight months are going to suck."

I laughed slightly at his misery. "Maybe. But when it's over we'll have a baby." He made a face at me, and I stared levelly back at him. "I know you don't want it now, but once you hold it in your arms for the first time you'll have forgotten all about that."

He continued to make that face as he tried to snatch the book back. I moved it out of his reach. "I'm not done yet. I asked Komui to call your mother."

Allen's silver eyes widened in horror at my words. "Why would you do that?! She's the last person I want to see me like this!"

I chuckled once. "No, the last person you want to see right now is General Cross. And whether you like it or not, you need to talk to your mother."

The Moyashi narrowed his eyes at me. "They're going to come together, so it's the same thing. And what on earth do we have to talk about?"

I laughed at the look on his face. "For starters, she's your _mother_. She's probably the only person that either of us knows who has actually had a baby. And secondly, aren't you even the slightest bit curious about _**why**_ this is happening to you?"

The clueless expression on his face made me sigh. I was going to have to spell it out for the brat. "You were able to get pregnant because you're half cat. And you're half cat because your mother cursed you."

Allen frowned at me. "No, I'm half cat because my Innocence thought it would make me stronger." He sighed, and continued talking before I could interrupt. "But I see where you're going. This whole baby thing is indirectly my mother's fault. She may be able to tell me something that Komui's tests can't.

"Can I have my book back now?"

I laughed at the pout he gave me and handed the book back to him. He reached out for it, but when I saw his hands, I held the book in place. "Moyashi. Where's the ring?"

It made my blood boil seeing that he had taken it off. The reasons didn't matter.

Allen smiled at me, but it was forced, his ears didn't perk up. "Relax Bakanda. It's right here."

.x.x.

I sat up, letting go of the book so that I could pull the necklace from under my shirt. My gaze focused on the ring dangling from the chain, avoiding the insulted look on Kanda's face. I fiddled absently with it as I explained. "I just about had a panic attack when one of the finders asked me about it at breakfast. That's when I realized that I can't wear it without explaining what it is, and nothing I could say would satisfy Lavi and Lenalee. Especially now that I know that she knows I'm ..." I couldn't make myself say the word out loud. "Anyway, I can't wear it. But I can't not wear it. It means too much. So I thought I'd try wearing it like this."

My gaze stayed locked on the ring. I waited for Kanda to shout at me. I knew he wouldn't like what I had done. His silence was unnerving. Then his hand was on my head, rubbing my left ear. "Look at me Moyashi."

I steeled myself and looked up. His expression was just as angry as I was expecting it to be. Yet the hand on my ear remained gentle and soothing. Kanda sighed and his icy glare faded to his usual stony expression. "I don't like it, Moyashi. But I'll keep my complaints to myself so long as you promise to start wearing it properly once those two know about us."

I blinked at him. That was definitely not what I expected him to say. "Of course."

"And you have to tell Camilla."

That was a weird request. "What? Why?"

Kanda sighed. "Komui spilled your pregnancy to all four of us. And she apparently saw me buy the ring. If you don't tell her we're engaged then she's going to give me all kinds of problems for lying to her."

I frowned at that revelation. So it wasn't just his sister that the supervisor had blabbed to, but my whole circle of friends. Perfect. I sighed heavily as I looked back up at Kanda. "Fine. I'll talk to Camilla."

He leaned in and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, pulling him closer. His free hand started caressing my waist, and I expected it to move lower. Not stop on my stomach. I sighed and broke the kiss. "Yuuuuu..."

He scoffed and started kissing me again. I dropped my arms and pulled his hand away from my abdomen. "Moyashi-"

The rest of his protest was drowned out by my stomach growling. I frowned and slid off the bed. "Guess it's lunchtime."

I was stopped about two feet from the door by Kanda wrapping his arms around my waist. "Moyashi. Lunchtime ended an hour ago."

The panicked expression on my face made him laugh. When he wouldn't let me go, I elbowed him in the ribs. "Bakanda. Jerry gave me a big long lecture yesterday about not skipping meals. If I hurry, I hopefully won't have to hear it again."

Kanda's laughter followed me out the door, but instead of keeping up with me, he went off in the direction of the training room. I didn't mind that he wasn't coming with me. I knew that he still wanted to tell everyone that we were together, and I was afraid that now that our friends knew about my pregnancy, I would slip up and accidentally reveal that Kanda was the father.

Jerry frowned at me when I skidded to a stop in front of his counter, but I hurriedly explained that I had simply lost track of time and he instantly went back to his usual bubbly self. I ordered my food, with the chef actually writing my order down for a change. When I asked why, he explained that it was to help him identify and keep track of what foods triggered my morning sickness, and while I appreciated that, knowing that there were things I wasn't going to be able to eat because I was pregnant, really put a damper on my mood.

With my food ordered, I surveyed the room and, out of habit, joined Lavi at the table where he was sitting alone. The redhead briefly looked up when I sat down, but otherwise completely ignored me. I didn't have to ask to know what was wrong, he was clearly freaking out over the same thing I was, but it irked me that he didn't even greet me. "Hello, Lavi."

He didn't respond and just continued to poke at his plate of pasta. I frowned and kicked him in the shin. When he glared up at me, I repeated my greeting. "Hello, Lavi."

This time he sighed before he looked away. "I don't know what to say to you, Allen."

I snorted. "How about 'hello'? Treating me like I don't exist isn't going to make the problem go away."

He looked up sharply and the look on his face said he was about to deny my accusation. I sighed and spoke before he could get a word out. "Look, I get it. I'm pregnant and that's weird. We don't have to talk about it if it creeps you out. And honestly, I'd prefer it that way; I don't want to talk about it either. So let's pretend that nothing's changed, ok?"

Lavi thought really hard about what I was suggesting, before he raised an eyebrow at me. "So if I were to ask, 'how was your day?' you would say...?"

I mimicked his expression, though it barely concealed my mirth. "Are you thinking that I'd try to gross you out by telling you how many times I threw up this morning?"

The rhetorical question finally got him to smile, but it faded almost immediately. I sighed, but my food arrived then, and I had to wait until Jerry's helpers left before I could say what I was thinking. "I've been pulled off missions. We're probably only going to be seeing each other at meals. All I'm asking is for you to acknowledge me by saying hello. You ignoring me is only going to hurt my feelings, and make things awkward between us once the weirdness of this whole thing blows over."

I could tell he finally understood as he gave me a small smile and said, "Hello, Allen", before letting the subject drop and turning his focus back to his pasta.

Things were quiet as I worked my way through my plates. The silence between us was a little tense, but it had eased considerably. It was weird not having Lavi chatter away while I ate, but at least he had acknowledged me, so the meal was tolerable. That was until I got a mouthful of something I shouldn't have.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews. You guys are awesome!

To Tsukiko K: You're getting ahead of the story. ;) They've only known about Allen's pregnancy for a day and a half. That subject won't be coming up for a while yet.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

I bolted from the cafeteria to the nearest restroom and lost everything I'd just eaten. When I had finished, I just sat in front of the toilet, slumped against the stall wall, unable to move. I was completely and utterly miserable. I had known about my pregnancy for a little over a day, and every time I thought I might be adjusting to it, something like _this_ happened. I wanted to go to bed and just sleep through the next eight months.

A tap on my shoulder made me look up. I blinked a few tears from my eyes and the first thing I saw was a shock of red hair. When I finally focused, I could see that Lavi was offering me a glass of pale yellow liquid. I was suspicious of what he was doing there, he'd seemed hell bent on avoiding me for the next eight months, but that suspicion vanished when I saw the concern that was written all over his face. "It's water with ginger and lemon. Jerry says it'll calm your stomach."

As I took the glass and sipped it slowly, the redhead sat down beside me and absently scratched my ear. "I'm sorry, Allen. I got so caught up in how weird you- ... your condition is that I forgot you were going through something so incredibly stressful. I hope I didn't upset you too much."

The comment snapped me out of my slump. I elbowed Lavi in the ribs and gave him a sideways look. "I'm a guy and I'm pregnant. It was natural for you to freak out when you heard. I told you this less than half an hour ago."

He laughed and helped me stand up. I was unsteady on my feet and he let me lean on him as we walked back to the cafeteria. I didn't want to go back in, but Lavi either didn't notice or didn't care and continued to lead me to our table. The dish that had made me so sick was gone, taken away by Jerry so it wouldn't set me off again, but while I appreciated it, it did little to make me feel better.

Lavi laughed at the look on my face and gently shook my shoulders before pushing me down to the bench. I stuck my tongue out at him, but he just laughed again and tousled my hair. "Finish your lunch, Bean Sprout. Pouting can wait."

I wanted to argue, but I knew he was right. Having just emptied my stomach, I was hungry, and I needed to eat. I had decided the night before that I was going to do my best to keep this baby alive, and I was not going to give up on that. No matter how sick to my stomach I felt. No matter how much I did _not_ want to be pregnant. I couldn't lose my resolve after less than a day.

Fortunately, eating provided me with a great excuse for not answering the multitude of questions that came my way. It wasn't hard to figure out that I had run from the cafeteria to throw up, especially given that at least a dozen finders had witnessed me doing that same thing in the bathroom that morning; it was no surprise that there was already a rumor going around that I had the flu. I responded to the repeated inquiries about how I was feeling with noncommittal shoulder shrugs, only setting down my fork to kick Lavi in the shin whenever it looked like he was about to tell someone that I was pregnant.

Eventually the cafeteria emptied, and Lavi and I were left alone. My food was gone, but I continued to sit at the table. While part of me wanted to go back to reading that pregnancy book, the rest of me was realizing that it wasn't going to be long before reading would be all I was able to do, and that was going to get boring really quickly. Without missions and sparring to keep me busy, I was going to have way too much time on my hands.

I was pulled from my moping when Lavi cleared his throat, clearly trying to get my attention. He gave me an awkward smile. "Would it be ok if I asked you some questions?"

I couldn't help snorting. "It would be weird if you didn't, Lavi. You not asking questions about this would be like Komui not freaking out over Lenalee going on a date."

The redhead made a face at me for the comparison, but it passed quickly. "Why wouldn't you let me tell that finder that you're pregnant? Is there a reason you're keeping it a secret? Is it-"

"Lavi." His mouth snapped shut at the sound of his name. I sighed heavily before explaining. I still didn't want to talk about my pregnancy, but this was something that needed to be said. "I've only known for a day. If Komui hadn't gone against my wishes, _you_ wouldn't know either. I don't want anyone to know what's going on until I have a handle on the situation. There's no telling how everyone is going to react to the news, and I want to be as prepared as possible before it gets out. Until then, it's best to let everyone think that I'm sick."

The look he gave me was full of disbelief, but he didn't pester me about it. Instead, he changed the subject. "Does that mean that you're keeping the baby?"

"Not because I want to." The words just popped out, but it was Lavi, he had probably figured that out already. After all, Komui did tell them that he thought I was raped.

Lavi laughed lightly. "Yeah, I imagine you were pretty pissed when Komui told you that you weren't allowed to have an abortion."

 _Huh? 'Not allowed'...?_ I blinked at Lavi, severely confused. "What do you mean 'it's not allowed'?"

I listened in horror as Lavi explained in great detail that the Church was against abortion and that I never would have been able to have one. When he finished, he cocked his head to the side. "Did Komui not explain that to you?"

At a loss for words, I just shook my head, but that answer wasn't good enough for Lavi. "Why not?"

I sighed in exasperation at his demanding tone. "How should I know? He told me that I could have an abortion, then he had to explain what that was, which freaked me out, and he calmed me down by saying that no one was going to force me to do it."

The redhead laughed. "I don't know whether to feel bad for you or to make fun of you for not knowing what an abortion is."

I made a face at him, but that only made him laugh again. He stared at me for a moment before his forehead wrinkled in confusion. "If you decided to keep the baby, why are you so pissed about it?"

"First of all, there's quite a difference between deciding against an abortion and deciding to keep the baby. And second, I'm keeping the baby because I have no choice in the matter, not because I want to. The baby inherited my neko traits, and that means that I'm stuck with it." Done with the conversation, I pushed away from the table and stalked out of the dining hall.

Lavi caught up with me as I passed the bathrooms. I had heard him coming, his footsteps were far from silent to my ears, but I didn't have the energy to try to escape him. The redhead fell in step with me, and I could tell from his body language that he was about to explode with excitement. "You're having a kitten?"

I didn't answer the question, so Lavi began to prattle on about how amazing it would be to have another neko at headquarters and how adorable my baby was going to be. It was exhausting just listening to him; I think it might have been better if I would have just let him ignore me like he had originally wanted to do.

Fortunately, I didn't have to put up with Lavi for long, as Bookman came and whisked him away before we were even halfway back to my room. I briefly wondered if the elderly man had been told of my pregnancy, but then I decided that it didn't matter; Bookman was probably the one person that I could count on to treat me absolutely no differently. After all, it was what he had done back when I first became a neko.

I wandered back to my room, but when I got there, it suddenly felt claustrophobic; I had spent more time alone in my room in the last two days than I had in the previous month. There was a solution to that though. I grabbed the book from my nightstand, and headed towards the garden. I had to turn back once, when it occurred to me that I should bring my jacket; with the way my friends were worrying about me that day, I would get an earful if I got caught outside without one.

The garden was empty and quiet. It wasn't particularly warm, but the sun felt good on my skin. I found a spot at the base of a tree, made myself comfortable, opened my book, and promptly tuned out everything else. I barely even noticed Timcanpy settling down on my head.

I was startled from my reading by the sound of giggling. It was quiet and brief, but I could still hear it. The sound had come from the tree above me, and I didn't need to hear the sneeze that followed it to know that it was Camilla and that she was laughing at me.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "Am I amusing you, Camilla?"

She sneezed again, and my ears twitched as I listened to her climb a few branches higher in the tree. Once she was far enough away that I was no longer making her sneeze, she giggled again. "You're actually reading a pregnancy book."

I closed the book with a sigh and set it aside. I was tired of this subject, but the Italian woman was the only one of my friends that I hadn't spoken with yet, and she was also the only one who knew Kanda's role in it, so trying to avoid talking to her was pointless. "How else am I supposed to learn about this stuff? It's not like I was expecting to end up like this."

Thinking she would either laugh or agree with me, the low sigh she let out caught me off guard. If my hearing wasn't so sensitive, I might have missed the words that followed. "I can't believe that idiot lied to me. And he made me feel bad about it too. He is definitely going to pay for this."

I looked up into the branches and narrowed my eyes at Camilla. She looked really irritated at whoever it was she was mumbling about. "Huh? What are you-? Oh. Right."

Realization dawned on me almost immediately. I pulled my engagement ring out from under my shirt and held it out where she could see it. "Kanda said I'm supposed to show you this. I can't wear it on my finger yet because everything is so complicated right now."

"So he really did propose." Camilla seemed surprised for a moment, but then her whole attitude changed. She leaned over and smiled down at me. "How'd he do it? What did he say? Did he get down on one knee? Did he-?"

She asked a few more questions, but by that point she was talking so fast that I couldn't understand them. "Slow down, Camilla. I can only answer one question at time. Besides, Kanda only proposed because he got me pregnant; it wasn't exactly romantic."

My snarky comment made Camilla laugh. "At least he had a ring. I guarantee that if you were a woman, the guy would not have gotten you a ring."

I frowned at the ring I was still holding before stuffing the chain back inside my shirt. Now that Camilla mentioned it, the timing of all this was a little weird. It was odd that Kanda had bought his 'joke' ring the same day I learned I was pregnant.

"Did he tell you why he waited so long to propose?"

I blinked up at her, completely at a loss over what she was asking. "What do you mean by 'waited'? He proposed right after I told him I was pregnant."

Camilla looked as confused as I felt for a moment, but then it passed, and she just seemed annoyed. "He bought that ring almost a month ago. He'd been planning to propose to you for weeks."

Her last words echoed through my head as I sat there in stunned silence. _Kanda had the ring for weeks? He actually wanted to marry me? He didn't propose because of the baby?_ I blinked up at Camilla. "But he said he bought the ring yesterday morning. ... He lied to me?"

The Italian woman raised an eyebrow in thought, and then she chucked a stick at my head. It missed me, but hit Timcanpy, startling him into hissing at her. But she didn't notice the angry golem because she was laughing at me. "Yes, he lied. If he had told you the truth, you would have either made fun of him or gotten angry at him. So don't make a big deal out of it. You're carrying his baby, just be happy that he still wants to marry you. If you were a girl-"

"Please stop comparing me to a woman, Camilla."

My tone made her laugh. "That's not going to happen, Allen. Not while you're sleeping with Kanda and definitely not while you're pregnant. But because you asked nicely, I'll stop for today."

"Thanks." I tried to keep the sarcasm out of my voice, but it must not have worked, because Camilla laughed again.

Intending to ignore her, I picked my book up and opened it to the spot I'd left off at, but I wasn't very successful as she started giggling again and it was impossible to read while she was laughing at me. I glared up at her, but that did little to silence her. However, after starting at her for a moment, I was struck with a different thought. "Hey, Camilla? You're a lot ... more normal than the others have been today. Aren't you weirded out by this whole pregnancy thing?"

She snorted and chucked another twig at me. "Allen, you're half cat and you can turn your arm into a magic sword that doesn't hurt people. You being pregnant is far from the weirdest thing that could be happening."

Her answer startled me a little; it was strange to hear that she viewed the situation the same way I did.

The third stick Camilla threw grazed my ear. I scowled at her, but she spoke before I could tell her to stop throwing things at me. "Then again, it's probably not as weird to me because I know that you're gay."

I shrugged. "Maybe. But Lenalee knows that I'm gay, and she is definitely not acting like herself today."

Camilla laughed. "What did she do?"

The question made me frown. "Nothing yet, but I can tell that she's up to something."


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Those of you waiting to see what Lenalee's up to are going to have to wait another chapter. ;)

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

I spent the next few hours just sitting out in the garden talking with Camilla. Or rather, she talked and I listened. I forget what exactly I asked that set her off, but her answer had rabbit trailed into a story about when her mother was pregnant with her younger brother, and I was definitely not going to interrupt that. It probably wasn't as informative as reading that book would have been, but hearing Camilla talk so excitedly about her memories eased some of my panic over my situation, and it definitely made me feel better about eventually having to tell my mother what was going on.

The conversation came to an abrupt end about an hour before dinner when Kanda came outside looking for Camilla. I had heard the door open and someone step outside, but I was lost in Camilla's story and didn't pay any attention to it until I heard Kanda call out. "Oi, Camilla! You out here?"

The Italian woman immediately snapped her mouth shut and slid farther back among the branches. It was clear from the look on her face that she was trying to hide. _Interesting_. I raised an eyebrow and smirked devilishly at her, which made her hiss lowly at me. "Don't you dare!"

I grinned at her before doing exactly what it was that she didn't want me to do. "She's over here, Bakanda!"

I heard Kanda grumble and begin to make his way towards us. Meanwhile, Camilla sighed in defeat and moved back to her original position in the tree. "Ugh. You're carrying his baby. I should have known you'd take his side."

"That has nothing to do with it. I just wanted to freak you out." I smiled innocently when she made a face at me. "Why are you trying to avoid Kanda anyway?"

She just snorted in response and began to absently fiddle with her braid. "In case you didn't know, that fiancé of yours is a real slave driver."

My heart almost skipped a beat when Camilla referred to Kanda in that way; it felt good to hear someone acknowledge our engagement out loud - not that I'd ever say that to Kanda; he was already all for telling everyone. But I pushed that aside and shot a smirk at Camilla. "That's nothing new; you've been his apprentice for five months. Is there any reason why you're hiding _today_?"

She sighed and leaned back in her perch. "Not particularly. I just wanted a break. He's been especially rough the last couple days."

"Komui wants me to move up your assessment." Kanda had arrived at our tree in time to hear Camilla's complaint. I had figured he would yell at her, either for what she'd said or for shirking her training, but he remained quite calm and explained his behavior to her instead.

He gave me a small nod of acknowledgement, which I returned with a smile, but his next words to Camilla made me freeze. "We leave tomorrow."

 _Tomorrow?_ That was really sudden. I wasn't ready for my boyfriend to have a real mission so soon after learning that I was pregnant. But I pushed aside my own panic and focused on Camilla. This was sudden for her too.

The Italian woman was instantly alert and looking really panicked. "But aren't I supposed to have another month of training first?"

Kanda shook his head in annoyance. "That was the plan originally, but now that the Moyashi is out of the game, Komui needs all the exorcists he can get."

I felt bad; Camilla's assessment was being moved up because I had gotten pregnant, and that wasn't fair to her. However, that guilt morphed into something quite different when Kanda continued to talk. "Plus, he also has to keep one of us here at all times to look after the Moyashi. Which means that unless you want to be the brat's full time babysitter, you need to take your assessment now."

"Wait, what?" I hopped to my feet and glared at Kanda, feeling my ears pin back against my head with my anger. "What do you mean by 'babysitter'? I don't need a babysitter! I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself!"

I turned my glare on Camilla when I felt a stick hit my ear. She met my glare with an expression that was meant to calm me down, but it definitely wasn't working. "That's not the issue here at all, Allen. Yes, we've all been ordered to keep an eye on you, but it's not for the reasons that you think."

"Oh I know _exactly_ what the reasons are." And they were definitely not good.

I moved to storm off, but Kanda caught me by the shoulders and pulled me into a hug. I struggled against him, but my attempts to escape stopped when he began stroking my ear. "Calm down, Moyashi."

"Komui thinks you were raped, Allen." Camilla's calm explanation cut right through what was left of my anger. "He's got us watching you because he doesn't want it to happen again."

"Oh." I buried my face in Kanda's neck as my face burned with embarrassment.

He laughed and tousled my hair. "Of course, the reasons you're thinking of are all true too. Though it's less about you not taking care of yourself and more about you not taking care of the baby properly."

I shoved away from Kanda and glared death at him. I could not believe that the man I loved had said just said that to me. But before I could get too pissed at him, he pulled me back against his chest and explained. "Komui wants us to make sure that you're not neglecting the baby. Because he thinks you were raped, he's worried that you're not going to be doing your absolute best to take care of it."

I sighed. Unfortunately, that meant months of my friends trying to tell me what I should and shouldn't do, and that was going to make this whole pregnancy thing even more annoying than it already was.

I looked up at Kanda from where my head was once again resting on his shoulder. "Are you ok with this? I would think you'd be against having someone following me around again."

He laughed briefly and rubbed my ear. "This isn't going to be anything like that. They're just going to be keeping an eye on you, not shadowing your every move. And, yes, I'm all for it. You can't fight in your condition. I know you know that. If I'm going to be able to leave you here while I go on missions, I need to know that there's someone here who can protect you if something were to happen."

.x.x.

Our kiss was interrupted by Camilla giggling. Allen and I both glared at her, but that just made her laugh harder. "Sorry, I was just imagining how the others would react if they saw you like that."

I growled at her. "Don't you have something better to do than sit there and laugh at us?"

She just rolled her eyes and began to climb down from the tree. "Fine, fine. I get it. I'll go do something else and leave you alone."

As she walked past us, the Moyashi smiled teasingly at her. "If you pass your assessment, you won't have to put up with him anymore."

I frowned at the comment, remembering that Camilla had been complaining about me when I had joined them. I wanted to say something bitingly sarcastic, but Camilla was gone before I could come up with anything.

I turned my attention back to the Moyashi when he placed his head on my shoulder with a dejected sigh. His usually bright eyes were stormy as he spoke. "It sucks that you have to go on a mission so soon. I would have liked to have you around while I try to adjust to this whole pregnancy thing."

"If you're not ok with me leaving, I can make up an excuse for postponing Camilla's assessment." I don't know where the offer came from, the words just popped out. Yes, I wished I didn't have to miss any of Allen's pregnancy, but that wasn't an acceptable reason for delaying a mission.

"No, don't do that." The Moyashi's words startled me. He had been so completely miserable ever since he learned he was pregnant that I had expected him to accept my offer to stay. "It's going to be hard without you here, but it's going to be even harder to have you leave later on in my pregnancy. All you'll be missing now is me vomiting all the time. You need to save your excuses for once I'm fat."

I tried to object to him calling himself fat, but he talked over me. "Besides, despite what she says, Camilla's been ready for her assessment for weeks, and we really do need more exorcists. You shouldn't postpone this."

"You think she's ready?" I raised an eyebrow at him. It was a genuine question; I hadn't yet put any thought into whether or not Camilla's skills were good enough to pass her assessment. But then what he actually said hit me. "Wait, you've been watching _my_ apprentice?"

Allen just snorted at my outrage. "First of all, she's a friend, so yes; I've been keeping an eye on her. And second, _I_ recruited her. If I had been promoted back when I broke critical, like I should have been, she'd be _my_ apprentice. If she had been assigned to anyone but you, I would have been butting in on her training from day one."

The way the Moyashi got himself all worked up was amusing to watch, but when his anger abruptly turned into depression, that amusement faded. "I'm never going to be a general now, am I?"

I sighed and held him closer. "Probably not. But is that really your biggest concern right now?"

He shook his head and mumbled into my chest. "I don't want you to leave."

"I know." I kissed the top of his head. "I don't want to leave either. But I have to. Because you're right. As hard as this is now, it's going to be even harder once your pregnancy is showing." I kissed his head again when he started to sniffle, and quickly changed the subject. "Now, let's get you inside. You'll feel better once you've had dinner."

.x.x.

With all five of us eating dinner together, I expected the conversation to revolve around the Moyashi's pregnancy. But he immediately declared that that subject was off limits in the cafeteria and in any other location where it was possible to be overheard. He also made it clear that if we wanted his cooperation with Komui's plan for us to follow him around, then we had to act like he had a stomach bug when other people were around.

The meal went slowly after that. With the one topic that was on everyone's minds off limits, it seemed like there wasn't anything to talk about. I usually enjoyed the silence, but this was too much.

The Moyashi seemed oblivious to the tension though, and he left as soon as his meal had been inhaled. I quickly searched for a reason to follow him, but instead found a reason to storm off. As soon as Allen was gone, the others went against his wishes and began talking about his pregnancy.

I found Allen in his room, and from the way he immediately perked up at my entrance, he was waiting for me. And when he flew past me to lock the door, I knew exactly what he was after. Then again, I was leaving for a mission the next day; it didn't take a genius to know that he wanted us to be together before I left.

Catching him by the waist, I pulled him in for a deep kiss. When I released him, he sighed heavily and leaned his head on my shoulder. "When do you leave?"

"After breakfast."

He leaned in close and whispered playfully in my ear. "Good. That means I have time to punish you."

I pulled away and blinked down at him, severely confused by his words. "Punish me? Since when do you _punish_ me, Baka Moyashi?"

"Since you started lying to me."

The words were said in a very matter-of-fact manner, and I was instantly on edge. I knew exactly what he was talking about, but I was not about to admit to lying to him. "What? I haven't-"

"Camilla told me about the ring." _Of course she did._

"Moyashi, I-"

My attempt at an explanation was cut off when Allen pressed his lips against mine. There was a serious glint in his silver eyes as he stared up at me. "You should have just told me. I would have much rather heard that you had lost your nerve than be led to believe that you were only proposing because you got me pregnant."

"It's not that simple, Allen." I sighed and sat down on his bed. "I-"

Once again, I was cut off with a kiss. "I know. Camilla told me that too."

"Then what is it that you want from me, Mo-?"

I grumbled as I was cut off by yet another kiss. But before I could push Allen away, he had shoved my back against the bed and was kneeling over me. The look on his face when he finally broke the kiss said that he was fed up with me. "I was trying to be cute. I thought you'd be able to figure out that I want you under me. But _nooo_ , you had to go and make things difficult."

He pressed his nose and forehead against mine and stared deep into my eyes. I scowled at him. "Well, you looked and sounded pissed. Why couldn't you have just said you weren't mad at me?"

His grey eyes briefly clouded over, but they quickly brightened as he smirked. "So you're saying that you would have preferred it if I had just attacked you without saying anything?"

It was a trick question. I was screwed no matter how I responded. So I kept my mouth shut and just stared at the Moyashi, waiting for him to make the first move.

I didn't have to wait long. He kissed me briefly and then laughed as he flopped onto his back beside me. "Right. I get it. We're engaged and have a baby on the way. No more pointless fights."

That wasn't the point I had been trying to make, but I agreed wholeheartedly with it, so there was no need to correct him. Allen propped himself up on his elbow and looked seriously down at me. "Does this mean we're done fighting in public too?"

I frowned in thought. "I want to say yes. I have no intention of fighting with you while you're pregnant, but I can't guarantee that I won't lose my temper. You're just so good at irritating me. And if your mood swings keep up like they have been, you're going to be even more of a pain in my ass than usual."

He blinked cluelessly at me. "I haven't had any mood swings yet."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "How many times have you cried today, Moyashi?"

"Oh."

The way his ears drooped was adorable, but the yawn that followed was even more so. I couldn't help laughing at him. "If you're that tired, you should just go to sleep, Moyashi."


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I want to respond to some of them, but I can't without giving parts of the story away, so you'll have to read on to get your answers.

Just a bit of a warning: there's a flashback in this chapter that takes place before Allen became a neko. While you read it, it'll help to remember that he's human.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

"Lena-lee! Where are you taking me?!"

The question went unanswered, just like the five before it had. It had been about ten minutes since she'd abruptly woken me from my post-breakfast nap and started dragging me through the halls. I didn't have the energy to fight her, hell, I barely had the energy to keep up with her. I was sick and tired of this whole pregnancy thing.

But by far the worst part was that Kanda was gone. We'd said goodbye that morning; though that didn't really count, as it happened while I was up for my morning sickness, and he left after I had gone back to sleep. Normally having him be away on a mission wasn't a big deal, but the discovery of my pregnancy had changed everything. Plus, we usually had sex before one of us left for a lengthy mission, and in the two days we'd known I was pregnant, he had refused to touch me each and every time I went looking for sex. I knew _why_ he was giving me the cold shoulder, but leaving me sexually frustrated was not the way to protect our baby.

After another ten minutes of dragging me around, Lenalee finally came to a stop outside the door to the laundry room. It wasn't particularly weird, I knew Lenalee liked to gossip with the workers down there, but it was strange that she had dragged me with her and that she hadn't told me that's what we were doing. I cocked an ear at her in confusion, the best reaction I could muster with how exhausted I was. "What are we doing down here?"

"Allen. I promise it'll be worth it. Just, shut up for a little bit." She placed her hands on my shoulders and pushed me down into the chair beside the door, my knees practically giving out under the force of her shove. "And do not, under any circumstances, go anywhere. I'll be right back."

I watched her go inside, planning to ignore her order and leave the second the door closed. But my body had other plans. I couldn't find the strength to stand up. She had completely worn me out on the trip down. I knew that if I focused my senses, I'd be able to hear whatever it was that Lenalee was saying or doing in the laundry room, but I didn't have the energy for that either. I was just going to have to settle for waiting for her.

The next thing I knew, there was a hand on my shoulder shaking me awake. I was so exhausted that I had nodded off the second I stopped moving. I blinked the sleep out of my eyes and looked up to find Lenalee laughing at me. "Well, that's one way to stay put."

I glared at her. I was still not in the mood for whatever it was she was up to. "Is there a reason you woke me up?"

She laughed again. But instead of explaining, she pushed a bundle of blankets against my chest. I made no move to take the, hopefully clean, blankets from her or even break my glare to look closer at them. I was definitely not in a cooperative mood.

Lenalee rolled her eyes and made an annoyed sound. Then she grabbed my left wrist with her free hand and moved it so that I was supporting the surprisingly heavy bundle, forcing me to take it from her. She sighed in exasperation and adjusted the position of my arm. "Geez, Allen, can't you cooperate at least a _little_? You don't want to drop the baby, do you?"

The mention of a baby had me even more confused than I already was. As far as I knew, the only baby around was the one growing inside me. "Huh? What are you talking about, Lenalee? What baby?"

My confusion just made Lenalee's scowl deepen. But it also made someone else laugh, and I belatedly realized that Lenalee hadn't come out of the laundry room alone. Janet, the head laundry lady, was with her, and it was Janet who seemed to be amused by our exchange. The older woman shook her head at Lenalee. "Can't you see the poor boy is half-asleep? He has no clue what's going on. Did you even tell him you were bringing him to see a baby before you brought him down here?"

I perked up at that. "There's a baby here? Where?"

This time both women laughed. "What do you think you're holding, Allen?"

I blinked at them a few times as I slowly realized that the bundle of blankets in my arms contained a baby. I felt stupid, but in all fairness, I had never been close enough to touch a baby before, let alone hold one. I truly couldn't have known that there was an infant in the blankets I was holding.

Of course, once I did realize that, I burst into tears. God I hated being pregnant. I was only a month in and I was already an emotional wreck.

As I held the baby closer and brought my free hand up to stroke its cheek, Janet sat in the chair beside me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "This is my grandson, Tony. He's the sweetest baby you'll ever meet, though from the look on your face, he's the first baby you've ever seen, so that probably means nothing to you. Just know that he's a very happy baby."

She laughed and briefly scratched my ear. "Of course, you'll probably think he's nothing special compared to your own baby, but that's to be expected. Mothers should love their own babies most."

It took a second for her words to register, and when they did, I couldn't help hissing harshly at Lenalee. She was supposed to be keeping my pregnancy a secret. "Lenalee! How could you?!"

Before Lenalee could react, Janet laughed lightly at my anger and scratched my ear again. "Relax, Allen. She didn't tell me anything. I've got three daughters and seven grandchildren. You've got 'expectant mother' written all over you. How far along are you?"

I frowned, deeply disturbed by her words. "Five weeks. Is it really that obvious that I'm pregnant?"

Janet laughed as she stood up, letting Lenalee have the chair. "Just to me, because I've been around it so much. Don't worry; no one else around here is going to figure it out anytime soon."

That didn't make me feel better. Though that could just have easily been from the fact that Janet didn't seem even the slightest bit put off by me being a pregnant male. She stroked my ear one more time before she left. "Now, I have to get back to work. Feel free to sit with Tony for as long as you need to."

I let my focus drift to the baby in my arms. My thoughts were a jumbled mess, and I couldn't stop the tears from falling as I took in that sleeping little boy.

Lenalee wrapped an arm around my shoulders and leaned against me; her voice was soft and gentle as she broke the silence around us. "I was fairly certain you'd never seen a baby before, and I thought this would help you adjust to what's happening to you. Babies are amazing, and you're going to have your own soon. I'm so jealous."

Before I could be touched by the gesture, she brushed her hand into my hair and kissed my forehead. I knew before she spoke that she was going to say something about wanting to be with me. "Allen, I don't know if you have a plan for your baby yet, but I'm here if you want to pretend things are normal. We could get married, and I could be your baby's mother and you would never have to tell it that you gave birth to it. I-"

I interrupted her with a heavy sigh and moved her hand away from my ear. I didn't want to take my frustration out on her, but being gentle kept backfiring. "Lena, we've been over this. I'm not attracted to you. I'm not going to marry you just to make things look normal. Besides, I already told you, my baby's father wants it. I may not have decided anything yet, but whenever I do make a decision, that will definitely factor into it."

.x.x.

~A Couple Years Earlier~

I collapsed on my bed. I wasn't particularly tired, but it was my first night in my own room after finally being discharged from the infirmary, and after the chaos of the ark and the recovering afterward, I was looking forward to finally sleeping in my own bed.

Just as I was nodding off, I was roused by a sharp tapping at my door. I climbed off the bed with a groan and went to find out who needed me that late at night. Lenalee smiled apologetically at the annoyed look on my face. "Sorry if I woke you. I know it's late, but can we talk?"

"Sure." I shrugged and backed away to let her in.

To my surprise, she closed and locked the door behind her. But before I could question her, she had pushed my back against the wall and pressed her lips against mine. I didn't want to be mean, but it was taking all my willpower not to hit her, so I grabbed her shoulders and pushed her away as gently as I could. "Lenalee. What are you doing?"

She didn't seem at all surprised that I wasn't interested in kissing her. She flopped down on my bed and stared earnestly up at me. And when she started talking, she didn't stop. "What do I have to do to make you notice me, Allen? Do you need me to gain weight? Lose weight? Dress differently? Do I need to dye my hair? Would you like me better if I was blonde? Or a redhead?"

I finally got her to shut up by covering her mouth with my hand. It took me a moment to collect my thoughts once it was finally silent.

What she was saying had come completely out of the blue. I hadn't had even the faintest idea that she was interested in me, and her words made me feel sad. Sad that I hadn't noticed that she liked me. Sad that I didn't like her back. Sad that she was so hung up on me that she wanted to change herself to make me like her.

I sighed and sat carefully beside her. "Lena, you shouldn't change yourself for a guy. He should like you for who you are."

She frowned at my response. "That doesn't answer the question, Allen." She tugged firmly on my sleeve and glared at me through the tears that had started to fall. "What do I have to do to make _you_ like me?"

Pulling her hand off me, I sighed again and moved to the chair by the window to put some distance between us. I leaned back and stared out at the night sky. I couldn't look at Lenalee anymore. She was my dearest friend, and it hurt me to see her hurting like that.

I knew exactly what to say to make her happy, but even though lying to spare my friends' feelings was something I did frequently, it was not the right thing to do in this situation. Telling Lenalee that I would date her just to get her to stop crying would only hurt her in the long run.

The real question was how to respond to her question. Did I make up something impossible to distract her, or did I tell her the truth? Because even if she was my best friend, the truth wasn't something I could say easily; admitting to being gay was a sure fire way to get myself in even more trouble than I already was.

I sighed and settled on a blend of my two best options. "I'm sorry, Lena, but unless you can find a way to make yourself male, you're wasting your time on me."

Because I was staring out the window, I missed Lenalee's initial reaction. But I was expecting her to be either angry or disgusted, so it was quite baffling to me when I suddenly found her arms around my neck in an awkward hug. Even more confusing was that she was sobbing into my shoulder.

Eventually her babbling calmed down enough for me to make sense of it, and I was definitely surprised to find that she was apologizing to me. "What are _you_ sorry for, Lena? I'm the one who should be apologizing. If I had noticed your feelings sooner, you wouldn't have-"

She cut me off with an apology that completely threw me. "And if I had noticed that you're gay, I never would have tried to force myself on you like that. I'm sorry for being so forward."

She babbled on for a bit, thanking me for being honest and sharing the truth with her, and promising repeatedly that my secret was safe with her. "I'll leave you alone now, but know that I'm just down the hall. If you ever decide that you're done being gay, or that you want to pretend to be straight, you know where to find me."


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! It's fun to see you guys get all worked up over this story. ;)

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

The deserted treed hillside where Kanda had chosen to stop and test Camilla's sneaking skills was swarming with akuma within minutes of their arrival. It annoyed him greatly, especially when he just wanted to be done with the whole assessment thing so he could see his fiancé again, but he knew there was nothing like an actual battle to truly test his apprentice. This was probably the only test he'd need for deciding whether or not she was ready to go on missions of her own.

Unfortunately, he didn't get to see as much of her skills as he would have liked, as a particularly annoying level three kept vying for his attention, leaving Camilla to take care of the lower level akuma almost completely on her own. The result was that the fight was chaos.

That didn't stop them from bantering with each other as they fought though. In spite of the severity of their situation, Camilla was enjoying the chance to be snarky towards her mentor.

Kanda missed her last comment, but he caught enough to know that she was repeating something Allen had said. He scoffed as he finally ran the level three through. "Che. Don't take the Moyashi too seriously. He's a soft-hearted idiot, and his naïve ideas are going to get him killed one of these days."

Camilla couldn't help smirking at him as she used her vines to entangle the akuma approaching him from behind. "Are you really sure you should be talking about the mother of your child like that?"

"Che. I've said worse to his face." Kanda spun in place and sliced through the captured level twos like they were butter. "That's probably the only good thing about having fought with each other for so long before we got together. He knows exactly what I think of him and that I love him anyway."

The Italian woman wanted to point out that the samurai had just said out loud that he loved Allen, but the fight demanded her full attention right then, and when she was finally free of the akuma that had snuck up on her, the moment had passed.

.x.x.

I collapsed face down on my bed, completely exhausted after such a long day; this whole assessment thing sucked. With a deep groan, I reached back and yanked the silver ribbon off the end of my braid. I had intended to unweave my hair nicely, but I was just too tired, so I let the strands fall out of the braid by themselves. I didn't even have the energy to pull off my incredibly filthy jacket.

Life as an exorcist was hard. It was not at all what I was expecting it to be like when I left home with Allen and Lavi. Not that I even knew what to expect back then. I didn't regret letting them talk me into joining them though. My life had been turned upside down, but the friends I'd made at the Order were by far the best friends I could have ever hoped to have. My only real complaint was that I was allergic to Allen.

As if on cue, the moment my thoughts drifted to Allen, Kanda knocked on my door. I groaned again and pushed myself off the bed, my sore muscles screaming at me. I wanted to ignore him, but he was my boss. The other exorcists all used words like 'teacher' or 'master' to describe their generals, but none of those seemed to really fit Kanda and I tended to only use them if I was teasing him. Then again, he was younger than me, so our relationship was just weird to begin with; he felt more like a brother than a boss. I got along with him well enough, and I definitely respected him as a fighter, but I knew next to nothing about him, and I had learned early on not to ask. Most of what I knew about Kanda came from Lenalee, and even though I knew Allen knew about Kanda's past, I couldn't get him to tell me more than what I'd already gotten from Lenalee.

I frowned as I opened the door for the samurai, making sure that my expression made it clear that I was annoyed with his interruption. In a completely unexpected turn of events, he didn't immediately start ordering me around. Instead, he stared awkwardly at me. "Can we talk about Allen?"

I blinked at him. That was a very odd request; Kanda never wanted to talk, much less about his relationship with Allen. "Of course..."

He came inside and I offered him a chair, but he just stood awkwardly in the middle of the room. Sitting on the end of the bed, I quirked an eyebrow at the uncomfortable expression on his face. "So are you going to tell me what's on your mind or are you going to make me guess? I mean, given what happened the day before we left, guessing isn't going to be very difficult. This obviously has something to do with Allen's pregnancy. And it's obviously something personal or you wouldn't be standing there like you've got a stick up your ass-"

Kanda's growl made me stop talking. After five months as his apprentice, I could tell all of his different grunts and growls apart and knew exactly what they all meant. That one said, 'shut up before I lose my temper and hurt you.'

It wasn't silent for very long. Kanda finally sat in the chair and scowled at the floor, the stiffness of his movements making it even more obvious that he was embarrassed by all this. "How do I convince Allen that it's time to stop hiding our relationship?"

I really should have guessed that that was what was on his mind. I sighed and shook my head at him. "I don't think you can. And you shouldn't try. He happens to be right."

Kanda looked shocked by what I was suggesting, so I sighed and explained it a little deeper. "As long as Komui thinks that Allen was raped, all revealing your relationship is going to do is make the Supervisor think that you're the rapist. And that's not something either of you want to happen. So before you even think about convincing Allen to do anything, you need to get Komui to accept that he wasn't raped."

It took a second, but Kanda relaxed a little when he realized what I was saying was true. I smiled lightly at the defeated look on his face. "I know you want everyone to know that Allen and the baby are yours, and I'm all for that, but until you get Komui on your side, revealing your relationship will be a huge mistake."

.x.x.

Being pregnant without Kanda around completely sucked. Scratch that. Being pregnant completely sucked. Not having Kanda around just made it that much more unbearable. The first few days he was gone followed a horribly predictable pattern.

Every morning, the morning sickness woke me up at an unreasonably early hour, I'd go back to sleep for a few more hours, and then the need to vomit would once again wake me. After that, I'd force myself down to breakfast where Jerry and whichever of my friends was on babysitting duty would monitor what I ate and constantly question me about whether or not I was still hungry. And since Kanda was out giving Camilla her assessment and Lenalee left on a mission after that first day, that meant that I was stuck with Lavi, who, despite what happened earlier, was still clearly not ok with the idea of me being pregnant.

Things finally changed on the fifth day of Kanda's absence.

When breakfast was done, I headed down to the training hall and attempted to do some training. Lavi followed and, like the three days before, he tried to convince me that I shouldn't be working out in my condition. And, like the previous three days, I ignored him. Being pregnant was no excuse for letting myself get out of shape. Besides, with the way the baby was sapping my strength, I didn't have the energy to get any further than a basic warm up, and I knew that none of those exercises would do any damage to the baby.

Lunch went the same as breakfast did; though with the added grief of something I ate setting off my morning sickness. The only good thing about it was that everyone who wasn't in my circle of friends was now thoroughly convinced that I was sick.

And like with the previous three lunches, Bookman came and fetched Lavi while I was poking at my last few dishes. Lavi didn't want to go against Komui and leave me alone, but we both knew that Jerry wasn't going to let me leave the cafeteria until I had finished every last crumb on my plates.

And it was while I was sitting there, bored out of my mind from not being able to do any of the things I normally would do, that Emilia walked into the dining hall for her own lunch. The Frenchwoman wasn't someone I routinely interacted with, but seeing her that day gave me an idea.

Finishing my food quickly, I put my empty plates away, and then did something that I normally wouldn't have done. I walked over to where Emilia was sitting alone and spoke to her. "Hey Emilia, would you mind meeting me in the library when you're done eating? There's something I'd like to talk to you about in private."

She was as surprised by my request as I was at myself for actually asking her, but she smiled and said she'd be there.

Which is why I found myself sitting in the library, playing with my tail and chewing anxiously on my lip. I wasn't scared of Emilia, though Timothy would say I was stupid for that, but I was definitely wary of how she'd react to what I had to say. Because once she knew that, she'd have the power to embarrass me in front of the entire Order.

I also didn't think that she'd actually come, so it was a bit of a shock when she walked into the library and sat down across from me. She laughed nervously and smoothed out her skirt. "So, what is it you wanted to talk to me about, Allen?"

I blushed so fiercely I could feel my ears heat up. I was about to tell Emilia, someone I barely knew, something that I was too embarrassed to tell my fiancé. "Ok, umm... this is really hard for me to say, but I ... umm ... I- I can't ... read very well. And I was ... wondering if ... if maybe you'd be interested in helping me?"

She blinked slowly at me and it felt like hours before she finally spoke. "What exactly do you mean by 'can't read very well'?"

Reassured by the fact that she didn't immediately burst out laughing at my admission, I took a deep breath and smiled at her. "If you repeat this to anyone, I'll deny it, but Timothy can read better than I can."

Not giving her the chance to respond, I jumped into explaining my idea. "I can read the mission reports and things like that, so I haven't ever really tried to get better, but I've been benched because of my sickness, so I thought that this would give me something to do."

I also had several other reasons for wanting to improve my reading skills, but they all had to do with my pregnancy and Emilia did not need to know any of that.

She studied me for a moment then raised an eyebrow at me. "Why me? Why not ask Lavi to help you?"

"Lavi's already so busy with his work for Bookman. I don't want to bother him."

Emilia laughed, clearly seeing through my half answer. "And you don't want to have to tell him that you can't read."

When I blushed, she laughed again. "I'll help you, Allen. Even though you should have come to me with this years ago. Do you have a plan in mind for how you want to do this?"

I frowned, still blushing hard. "Not really. I know you're busy, and I don't want to take up too much of your time. So maybe if we just meet for an hour or so a week and-"

I cut off when she laughed at me. "I will always have the time to help someone learn to read. And if you truly can't read as well as Timothy can, you're going to need a lot more than just an hour a week. So, I think what we need to do first is figure out where to start."

As I nodded in agreement, she walked over to the basket of books needing to be shelved and dug through it. She pulled out one with a dark red cover and brought it over to me. It looked much more like something Lavi or Lenalee would read than something I would have picked. "This is the book Timothy just finished. How about you start with it, and we'll meet again in two days. We'll use how far you've gotten with it to figure out what level you're at and how much help you really need."

I smiled nervously at the thought of reading such a thick book. "Sounds like a plan. Thank you, Emilia."

"You're welcome." She smiled and began to walk away. Just before she reached the door, she turned back and gave me a terrifyingly innocent smile. "Oh, and Allen? You may have come to me, but I won't let you give up. If you ever feel like quitting, you should remember that I'm not above blackmailing you into cooperating. If I feel like you're stopping too soon, I _will_ tell Lavi that thing you don't want him to know."


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: You guys are great! Thanks for the reviews!

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

As excited as I was to hear that Kanda and Camilla were on their way home, I was in a really bad mood. Some of it was pregnancy related, because I'd now been stuck at headquarters for a week, but most of it came from this horrible headache I had developed over the last few hours.

I was constantly hearing a weird thumping noise. It followed me everywhere I went, and no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't locate the source. And I couldn't talk to anyone about it either. I may not have been able to locate the sound, but I knew it was well outside of normal hearing range. As a neko, I was the only one who could hear it. And as the hours passed, my frustrations over the noise just made my headache worse.

Plus there was the whole 'Camilla should have been my apprentice' thing that I was definitely _not_ over, and probably wouldn't be over any time soon. So while I was happy to hear that she'd passed her assessment, like I'd known she would, all it did was remind me that I was pregnant and that I would most likely never get to have my own apprentice.

.x.x.

I had been looking forward to coming home and seeing my Moyashi again from the moment I left. It just figured that he would be in the middle of a rather nasty mood swing when it finally happened. On the other hand, bickering with him like that was a great way to make sure that no one suspected our relationship; hopefully he would pick up on that once he had calmed down.

In the meantime, avoiding him was clearly my safest option, so I retreated to the training room. Prolonging our reunion was definitely not what I wanted, but if he was going to be hormonal, trying to be around him was not going to go well.

I wasn't alone for long before someone decided to interrupt me. With the frustrated mood I was in, if it had been anyone other than Marie, I might have done some serious damage to them. Hopefully Marie's presence didn't mean that Teidoll was right behind him; the last thing I wanted was for my former teacher to 'congratulate' me for my apprentice's completed assessment.

Scowling at the blind man, I huffed and put my sword away. "What do you want, Marie?"

He laughed at my tone and sat down across from me. "Did something happen between you and Allen?"

I looked down at him, startled by his suggestion. "What? What gave you that idea?"

Marie just shrugged. "You laid into each other pretty hard in the cafeteria earlier."

"Che. That was just a fight. Just because we're together doesn't mean we always get along." I rolled my eyes at him as I joined him on the floor. _At least I_ _ **hope**_ _it was just a fight._

The blind man relaxed, but that just put me on edge; it was time for him to tell me why he really chose to interrupt me. "Ok. Then maybe you can tell me what's going on with him."

I stiffened at the mention of Allen's pregnancy, but I kept my mouth shut. However, Marie caught the shift in my body language. "Ah, so you _do_ know what's really going on. It's not a stomach bug, is it?"

"Che." It seemed weird to me that Marie wouldn't have just asked Allen about all this. "Why does it matter to you?"

"I'm just curious, I guess. His heart rate has been strange for the last couple days, and I'd like to know why before General Teidoll decides to leave again." He shrugged and then smirked at me. "And given how irritated Allen has been about his 'illness', I thought that getting the answer from you would be easier."

Ignoring the implied insult, I fixated on what he had said about Allen. "What's strange about his heart rate?"

Marie gave me such a strange look that it surprised me when he actually answered the question. "It's hard to explain... It's faster and has a bit of an echo."

"Huh." I wondered if that was a pregnancy symptom or if it was something else entirely.

Once again, Marie caught the reaction I thought I had hidden. "Are you going to tell me what's really going on now?"

I frowned in thought. I wanted to tell him; Camilla may have convinced me that waiting was the smart choice, but that didn't mean that I had stopped wanting to tell everyone. Besides, this was Marie, the closest thing I had to family. And he already knew about my relationship with Allen. He was someone I should be allowed to tell. "Fine. I'll tell you. But you have to promise not to say a word to Teidoll about it."

Marie gave me a puzzled look; he clearly didn't understand what the Moyashi's sickness had to do with the old man. "I promise."

I sighed, trying to figure out how best to say it. Then again, it was always easiest just to be direct. "Allen's pregnant."

Marie was silent for a moment before he voiced his confusion. "... Isn't Allen male?"

The question surprised me, but then again, it did make sense that a blind man would want to make sure that he had that fact straight. "Yes, but he's also part cat. The curse that did that to him changed his insides too."

He nodded in thought before he gave me a look. "Is that why you two were fighting earlier? He's upset with you for not wanting your baby?"

I was definitely insulted by the conclusion he'd reached. "Give me some credit, Marie. I asked the Moyashi to marry me after he told me." After a brief pause, I tacked on, "And he said yes. So-"

My words cut off when Marie engulfed me in a tight hug. I sighed heavily and shoved him off me. "Yes. I'm going to be a father. Why do you people always feel the need to hug me when you find out?"

Marie just laughed as he sat back down. He shifted back into a serious mode, putting me even more on edge. "How are you feeling? You and babies don't exactly go together. Are you coping?"

I shook my head. "I'm doing fine. It's been stressful, but that's to be expected, especially since the Moyashi has _not_ been taking it well."

"That's not what I meant, Kanda." And there was that look of his, the one that said he knew that I was trying to avoid his question and that he wasn't going to put up with it. "So you may as well save us both some time and tell me."

I turned away from him in embarrassment, even though I knew he couldn't see my face. "This happened so unexpectedly. I should feel panicked or scared, or even angry, but I'm not. I'm excited. I _want_ the baby. I can't wait to hold it in my arms for the first time."

Marie's silence scared me, and when I finally turned to face him, he was giving me a really weird look. "What?"

He shook his head to snap himself out of it. "You're not lying."

I scowled at him. "I'm not. And if you repeat any of this to anyone-"

"I know, I know. You'll do something unspeakable to me." Marie laughed. "You're going to have to learn to share your feelings if you don't want to emotionally scar your kid."

.x.x.

I dropped my book and jumped up at the knocking. I practically flew to the door, hoping that it was Kanda so that I could apologize for what I'd said earlier. Arguing with him was not how I had wanted to greet him.

It wasn't my fiancé at the door, but Marie and Miranda. Though I was slightly disappointed, I was also excited. It was nice to see people who knew about my relationship with Kanda, and especially these two, as they were gone far more often than they were home.

That good feeling died in my chest though when Marie smiled at me and said, "I just came from talking with Kanda. It looks like congratulations are in order."

I frowned. _Of course Kanda told his brother about the baby._ I didn't know if I was angry or grateful, so I decided to put that aside for the moment and forced a smile at the blind man. "Thanks."

Miranda smiled awkwardly at us. "And what exactly are we celebrating?"

I blinked at her then turned back to Marie. "You didn't tell her?"

He laughed lightly and shook his head. "No. I figured you would prefer to do it yourself."

Before I could argue, the blind man nudged his wife into my room, speaking as he closed the door behind her. "I'll be in the lounge down the hall if you need me."

I hissed in frustration, letting my tail thrash behind me as I banged my forehead against the door. A hand on my shoulder startled me out of my self-pity, and I looked up to see Miranda looking very worried. "What's wrong, Allen?"

"It's nothing important." Forcing my brightest smile, I guided the German woman into the wooden chair by my bed, and I made sure my mask stayed in place as I sat down across from her. "Anyway, since Kanda's already told Marie, I guess that means it's up to me to tell you. Kanda and I are getting married."

Miranda squealed in excitement when I pulled the ring out from under my shirt, and I couldn't help cringing, she was that loud. She sobered immediately. "Sorry, that was too loud. I forget that you and Noise have sharp hearing, I do that to him a lot too."

Her embarrassed blush made me smile. "Don't worry about it."

I reached out to take the ring back from her, but instead found my hand clasped tightly between hers. Miranda looked deathly serious. "Are you two actually going to be allowed to get married? You're both men, isn't that kind of thing forbidden?"

Her question made me pause. I hadn't really thought about that before. "Normally it would be, but given the circumstances... they'll probably bend the rules for us. I imagine they'd rather marry two men than have our baby be illegitimate."

"'Baby'?" It wasn't until Miranda called attention to it that I realized that that probably wasn't the best way to tell her the news; she looked severely confused. "There's a baby?"

I blushed deeply as I pulled my hand from hers. "Ah. Yeah. I'm pregnant."

Miranda's reaction was so typical of her that I don't know why I wasn't expecting it. As soon as I said the words, she fainted.

I managed to keep her from falling out of the chair and hurting herself, but nothing I tried would wake her. So I went and got Marie; if he didn't know how to rouse her, he'd at least be able to get her back to their room.

The blind man laughed as he processed the scene, not at all surprised that his wife had fainted upon learning that I was pregnant. He didn't seem to be having any better luck with waking her than I did, so he made small talk to fill the silence. "How far along are you? I know it's more than six weeks, your baby's got such a strong heartbeat already, but it can't be much further than that..."

The mention of my baby's heartbeat made me freeze. It reminded me of that strange sound I'd been hearing all day, and I wondered if they were related. "What- what does it sound like?"

Marie shot me a confused glance, so I clarified. "The baby's heartbeat."

He frowned as he thought. "The best way I can think to describe it is that it's like your heartbeat has an echo. It-"

I tuned him out after that to focus on what I was hearing, and sure enough, that mysterious noise did sound like it was echoing my heart. It truly was my baby's heartbeat that I'd been hearing all day. That simple realization shattered my reality and I had to work to not cry in front of Marie.

The blind man seemed to understand that I wanted to be alone without me having to say so; he gave up on trying to wake Miranda and picked her up. "Congrats again, Allen. We're leaving tomorrow, and we'll probably be gone for several months this time, but please be sure to let us know when the wedding is going to be, we don't want to miss it."

"Of course."

My forced smile fell the second I closed the door behind him. I stumbled to the bed and threw myself down on the mattress, finally allowing myself to cry.

Hearing the baby's heartbeat meant that I really was pregnant. The thing growing inside me was alive. There was a part of me that had been holding on to the hope that Komui had made a mistake and given me the wrong diagnosis, but that was clearly not the case. I was truly, undeniably, pregnant.

.x.x.

When Marie finally left me alone, I went to get dinner, hoping to find Allen there. I wanted to know whether or not he'd calmed down, and running into him in public was by far the easiest way to do that. But he wasn't there. The Moyashi had left just five minutes before I arrived.

While I ate, people asked about the vicious way Allen had attacked me at lunch, but I ignored them. I focused all my attention on my soba, and as soon as it was gone, I left the cafeteria; not caring that Lavi was in the middle of telling me a story when I walked away.

I found the Moyashi in his bedroom. He was curled up on the bed and he had obviously been crying pretty hard. I thought he was asleep, but when I sat down on the mattress and rubbed his ear, he turned to look at me. "I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier."

"Thank you." I leaned down and kissed his forehead. "But I talked it over with Camilla while we were gone, and you're right, we need to keep our relationship secret a little longer. So don't worry about what happened earlier. We can't give up the fake fighting just yet."

He gave me such an adorable look that I nearly lost control. His silver eyes were wide with surprise and with the way the cat ears on his head twitched, it made him look far too innocent. I kissed him briefly then changed the subject. "Now, why don't you tell me what's really bothering you."

Allen gave me an answer, but it was so quiet that I almost missed it. "I can hear the baby's heart beating."

He immediately burst into tears, and I sighed. I knew exactly what he meant by that, it was rather obvious given that he didn't want the baby, but this was something he had to work through himself. No matter how much I wanted to, I couldn't fix it for him. All I could do was try to comfort him and hope that he would fall in love with our child soon.

I lay down beside him and pulled him close to me. His body relaxed into the embrace, but that just made him cry harder. "Che. Baka Moyashi. I love you."


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: I love that you guys are enjoying this. Thanks for the reviews! A lot of your comments/questions about Allen's feelings will be answered next chapter. In the meantime, here's more with Komui thinking Allen was raped...

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

~Beginning of June~

Three weeks. It had been three weeks since I got that horrible news that completely turned my life upside down. Sure, not everything that had happened since then was bad - getting engaged to Kanda was certainly a highlight. I was much more adjusted to the changes to my lifestyle, but for the most part, I was still pretty miserable. Being stuck at headquarters was far from pleasant, and so was throwing up several times a day. But thanks to Camilla telling Kanda that horniness was a symptom of pregnancy, he and I were having sex again, so there were at least a few hours a week where I could pretend my life was still normal. I was only eight weeks pregnant, yet I was already experiencing every first trimester symptom in the book. And I had several books to confirm that.

I was lying on my bed one day, reading the pregnancy book Lavi had bought for me on his last mission, when I was interrupted by a repetitive, obnoxious knocking at the door. I put the book down on the nightstand with a heavy sigh; the whispers I could hear from the hallway were telling me that there were several people out there and that they were up to something.

Opening my door revealed everyone who knew about my pregnancy crowded into the area in front of my door, and all of them were holding various sized boxes. Lavi and Lenalee looked ecstatic, Camilla's excitement was a little more toned down, and Kanda was scowling like he didn't want to be there. But the expression that scared me the most was Komui's. The Supervisor was smiling like he had just finished building one of his robots.

I backed away slightly. "What's going on?"

Lavi held up his boxes with a triumphant grin. "We're here to help you pack!"

"What- what for?" I took another step backwards as they all pushed their way into my room.

Komui laughed. "Your new room is ready!"

I sighed in defeat, feeling my ears droop. I remembered him saying that that would happen, but I had hoped he'd forgotten about it; I didn't want to move rooms. I'd lived in this space longer than I'd ever lived anywhere before, and I didn't want to leave it.

Lenalee threw an arm around my shoulder, trying to cheer me up. "Come on, Allen! It'll be fun! We'll pack up your stuff and move it to the new room. And you won't even have to lift a finger! Just tell us what to do and we'll do it!"

I recognized that as a nice way of saying that they weren't going to let me help because of my condition. I wanted to be insulted, but that would only prolong this awfully uncomfortable encounter. So I swallowed the sarcastic response I wanted to give, forced a thoughtful smile, and gave in. "Well, there's clothes in the dresser and some jackets and shoes in the closet. Then there are the books on the table, and my basket of toiletries is under the nightstand."

Everyone but Kanda, who already knew all that, gave me the same dumbfounded look. It was Camilla who asked the question they were all thinking. "Is that it? Don't you have anything sentimental?"

 _Just the engagement ring I'm wearing around my neck._ But there were people present that I couldn't say that in front of yet. I smiled and shrugged at them. "I have Timcanpy. But I don't think he'd let you put him in a box. Right, Tim?"

The golden golem made a face at me from where he'd been sleeping on top of the dresser, and that made everyone laugh. Lavi grabbed my arm and pulled me close to him. He gave me a very pointed look. "So you don't anything dirty under the bed?"

I knew exactly what he meant, but I chose to feign ignorance. "Of course not! I always throw my laundry in the hamper."

The redhead deadpanned. "That's not what I meant."

I rolled my eyes at him, and Kanda scoffed from where he was still standing in the doorway. "Che. He knows that. I think you're confusing him with yourself, Baka Usagi."

Before the two could start bickering, Komui clapped his hands together. "Alright then! Let's get to work!"

Even with them not allowing me to help, packing up all of my stuff took all of ten minutes. They didn't even use half of the boxes they'd brought with them. I trailed behind them as we traipsed through the halls to my new room, definitely still moping over not being allowed to help carry any of the boxes. When I had tried to complain, Kanda had shoved my pillow in my face, so I was at least carrying _something_ , but I still felt like I was freeloading.

Komui made a big show of throwing open the door, but I wasn't paying attention to his theatrics. I don't know what I was expecting the new room to look like, but I was definitely not expecting the door to open into a private lounge. It was even fully furnished, and by someone who knew that the furniture would be used by me; the cat in me practically purred at how comfortable the couch and matching armchairs looked.

The box of my books was set down on the coffee table, and the rest of the boxes were carried through one of several doors off the lounge to what was apparently going to be my new bedroom. I stood awkwardly in the doorway while my friends unpacked my clothes into the closet and one of the two dressers in the room. They chatted while they worked, but I didn't hear a single word they said.

Everything was much larger than in my old room, and my pitiful amount of possessions only made it all seem bigger. But it was the size of the bed that had me the most freaked out. It was at least twice the size of the twin bed I used to have; I could lay sideways on it and not hang off it at all.

My attention was pulled from the bed when Lenalee called my name. The Chinese woman smiled when I turned to look at her. She gestured to the doorway behind her, which I finally noticed opened to a private bathroom. "I've set your toiletries on the counter, you can unpack them later."

"Thanks." I smiled at her, but it faded when she grabbed my arm and pulled me out into the lounge.

I protested, but the words died in my throat when she dragged me through another door. I froze completely at what I saw in the new room. Compared to the other two rooms I'd been in, this one had very little furniture, but what it did have felt like a slap across the face. A simple wooden rocking chair with a teddy bear resting on it and a brightly painted dresser indicated that even though the room wasn't fully furnished yet, it was supposed to be the nursery for my baby.

Lenalee was babbling excitedly about going shopping for a crib, but I wasn't listening to her. I was too busy having a panic attack. Then everything went black.

.x.x.

The Chinese woman noticed that Allen wasn't paying attention to her just in time to catch him as he passed out. She panicked slightly, but quickly regained control of her senses and called to her friends in the other room. "I need a little help in here!"

Lavi was the first to respond to her call, and between the two of them, they got the unconscious neko moved to the bedroom. As soon as they put the boy down on the bed, Komui shoved them away so that he could have room to examine him. The Supervisor addressed his sister without looking up from checking the neko's pulse. "What happened?"

Lenalee's voice was thick with worry. "I don't know. I was showing him the nursery and he just collapsed."

Kanda scoffed to hide his worry for his Moyashi. "Che. You probably scared him. After the sudden move this morning, seeing all that was just too much for his tiny brain to handle."

Komui frowned at the samurai's condescending tone, but upon finishing the exam, he was inclined to agree with the Japanese man. "Allen's physically fine, so it probably was just stress. He's going to be much more emotionally vulnerable in his current condition."

He looked around at the neko's friends. "It's probably best if we're not all here standing over him when he wakes up, so you're all free to return to your normal activities."

Three of the four young exorcists gave the Supervisor uncertain looks, while Kanda rolled his eyes and swept out of the room. The samurai wanted to stay with his Moyashi, but he knew that he couldn't. Camilla followed after her, now former, mentor, knowing that her allergies to the neko would only make the situation worse. Lenalee was the next to go; she was concerned over Allen, but she trusted her brother enough to do what he said.

Lavi was not going anywhere. Komui debated making the redhead leave, but ultimately decided that it wasn't worth the effort. After all, Lavi was Allen's assigned caretaker for the day, and sending him away just meant he'd have to track the redhead down later.

Komui was rather proud of how that system was working out. Allen was eight weeks along and had a healthy baby growing inside him. The Supervisor had no doubts that had the neko been left to his own devices, he would have miscarried by now. He was still concerned about a potential miscarriage because Allen was experiencing pretty severe morning sickness, but at the neko's last exam, the baby's heartbeat had been quite strong. Even then, Komui wasn't particularly worried about the baby; it was Allen's mental health that was his true priority. He may have conceived his baby through a rape, but having a miscarriage would still wreak havoc on the neko's sanity.

"What's on your mind, Komui?" Lavi only asked to break the silence, he was pretty sure he knew what the Supervisor was thinking about. After all, Komui was one of the easiest people at the Order for the Bookman apprentice to read. Which meant that the redhead wasn't surprised when the Chinese man ignored his question. "You do realize that it's not your fault that Allen was raped, right?"

That got a reaction out of the man, though it was little more than a melancholic sigh. After a brief internal debate, Komui turned to stare critically at Lavi. "Maybe not. But I suspected that this would happen back when he first became a neko. I should have done something to prevent it."

Lavi shook his head. "For all we know, any steps you would have taken might have made it happen sooner. Allen's got more admirers than your sister does; taking him off the market would have easily caused one of them to do something stupid. Just be thankful he decided that he wants his baby and stop worrying about the other things."

Komui had to admit that the apprentice Bookman had a point. The whole pregnancy thing was hard enough to deal with; trying to do it with an uncooperative Allen would have been next to impossible. He opened his mouth to say so to Lavi, but was distracted when Allen began to stir.

The neko blinked in the bright light, only slightly surprised that most of the others had gone; it was too much to hope that he would have been alone with Kanda when he awoke. When Allen was awake enough to be coherent, Komui asked him a few routine questions, and once he confirmed that the neko truly had fainted out of stress, he took his leave. But not before ordering the boy to spend the rest of the morning in bed.

That didn't stop Allen from getting up the second the Supervisor was gone though. Lavi laughed at the neko's behavior. It was such a completely predictable thing for Allen to have done. "Aren't you supposed to be resting?"

Allen scowled so fiercely at the redhead that he backed away in fear. "I'm just moving to the couch. Or is getting comfortable not allowed?"

.x.x.

Being ordered to stay put really wasn't necessary. After everything that had happened that morning, all I wanted to do was sleep. Between the stress and the baby draining my energy, I was exhausted. But sleeping wasn't going to happen while Lavi was literally watching my every move; he was usually much more easygoing about the whole babysitting thing, but I had fainted earlier, which meant that the redhead was never going to let me out of his sight.

So I had to settle for reading. Fortunately, that couch was every bit as comfortable as it looked, so even though I couldn't sleep, I was at least able to relax.

I wasn't looking forward to lunch. Not when _all_ of my friends were at headquarters. I just wanted to eat in peace, but they weren't going to let that happen. Three weeks had passed, yet they were still talking about my pregnancy like it was brand new.

Contrary to my expectations, Lenalee and Camilla had already left on their next mission. On top of that, Lavi got dragged off by Bookman before he could even order his food. I not only got my quiet meal, but I got to eat alone with Kanda. It was pretty great, even if I did have to leave twice to throw up.

We sat in silence through the whole meal, simply enjoying each other's company. I almost wished that we could sit side by side and act like a couple, but I knew Kanda would never go for that; besides, I wasn't anywhere near ready to tell people about our relationship yet. He did, however, surprise me with a somewhat romantic gesture as we were walking out of the cafeteria after putting our dishes away. "Lavi's going to be busy for a while; shall we go back to your room?"

The question made me both happy and sad; it was sweet of him to ask, but I knew that what he was really doing was gauging my mood. When I was feeling crappy because of my pregnancy, he was usually the last person I wanted to be around. That day however, being alone with Kanda actually sounded really good. Unfortunately, I had other plans. "I have to go meet Emilia in the library, but you can definitely come by when I'm done."

Kanda blinked at me. "Emilia? What are you doing with Emilia?"

I couldn't help blushing lightly. I hadn't meant to let that detail slip. But it was out of the bag now. "She's teaching me how to read."

He didn't tease me like I expected. Instead, that confused look never faded. "Because of the baby?"

"Kinda." My gaze dropped to the floor as I sighed. "Those books have a lot of big words in them."

"Baka Moyashi." He laughed and shook his head at me. "You're adorable."

I frowned at the comment, but I didn't get the chance to ask what he meant by it, as he had left while I was flustered. Brushing it aside, I went and met with Emilia. I had made a lot of progress in the last two weeks, much more progress than I would have made on my own, so even though the Frenchwoman's teaching style was domineering and reminded me of my time with Cross, I didn't regret asking for her help. It would be worth it in the end.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: As you probably guessed, given that the story has reached the beginning of June, this chapter contains Kanda's birthday! It's also the first lemon of this story! Woo! (It's not a very long lemon, but still.) ;) As promised a couple chapters ago, this chapter also contains a bit more about what Allen's feeling in regards to his pregnancy.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

When I woke up the next morning, I was severely disoriented. The room I was in was not mine or Kanda's. It was far brighter than either of our bedrooms, and the bed was far bigger than either of our beds - it was also far too nice to belong to an inn. Not knowing where I was definitely scared me a little. But there wasn't time to dwell on that.

As the nausea began to overtake me, I threw off the covers and practically fell out of bed in my hurry to get up. It was at that point that I finally realized that I was in the suite I'd been moved to the day before, but my focus remained on getting to the bathroom as soon as possible. The morning sickness definitely still sucked, but I had at least adjusted to it enough that it no longer turned me into a blubbering mess. Because the last thing I needed during all this was for one of my friends to see me like _that_.

Kanda knelt beside me and rubbed my back while I threw up, and when I was done, he helped me to my feet. He kissed the top of my head and gently massaged my right ear. "It's a lot easier to follow you to the bathroom now that it's only a few feet away."

I sighed heavily at the reminder that we were in my new suite. I didn't say anything, but Kanda picked up on my reaction. He dropped his hand from my ear and pulled me closer to his bare chest. "What's wrong, Moyashi?"

"Nothing. I just forgot that this is my room."

He laughed lightly and resumed rubbing my ear. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it."

I huffed and pulled his hand away from my head. "I don't want to get used to it. I want my old room back."

"Why?" The surprise in Kanda's voice was so genuine that it made me look up at him. He gave me an honest smile and brushed a lock of my white hair out of my face. "You've got so much more space here. Not only is there room for you and the baby, but there'll be room for me too once we're married. And shouldn't you love having a private bathroom? You're not going to have your morning sickness in front of everyone anymore. Plus, you've complained so many times about the communal baths, about not liking to be naked in front of other people. Aren't you at least a _little_ happy to be done with that?"

I scowled and pushed myself out of his arms to go rinse my mouth out at the sink. "Why are you trying so hard to convince me to see things your way? Can't you just let me hate this?"

Kanda chuckled and pulled me back into a hug. "Nope. Because you know what else a private bathroom means? We can have sex the shower."

Not caring if he was teasing me or being serious, I snorted derisively. "Yeah, that's never gonna happen."

"Why not?" The exasperation in his voice told me that the suggestion had been a serious one.

I shook my head at him and walked out of the bathroom. "You spy on me in the baths. Have you seen me shower since I became a neko?"

While I threw myself dejectedly onto the bed, he leaned against the doorframe and fixed me with a questioning stare. "I gave that up when we started sleeping together. What-?"

I cut him off with a deadpan expression. "I'm half _cat_. Cats hate _water_. Do you get it yet?"

He seemed to understand, but when he didn't respond, I continued to explain. "I can fight the urge to run at the sight of water for long enough to get myself clean, but you're never going to keep me in the shower long enough for sex, and for the record, you're never going to get me into a bath either."

By the time I was done ranting, Kanda was laughing at me. I scowled fiercely at him, but he ignored my reaction. He climbed on the bed, kneeling over me, and he kissed me tenderly. "But today's my birthday."

"So? Since when do you care about that?"

Kanda kissed me once more then rolled off of me. He sighed as he pulled me closer to him. "I still don't. I just thought that might change your mind, but it clearly didn't."

I laughed lightly as I snuggled into his side. "Are you going to stay at headquarters today?"

He snorted. "I'm definitely leaving and staying away as long as I can."

"Of course." I knew before I asked that that would be his answer, but it was still disappointing to hear.

I found myself pulled into a tight embrace as Kanda wrapped his arms around me. He buried his face in my hair and sighed. "The thought of staying in bed with you all day is definitely tempting though. Do you see what you've done to me, Moyashi?"

Letting the rhetorical question go unanswered, I laughed and changed the subject. "I know you're not a fan of celebrating your birthday, but I still wish I could have gotten you a present. I hate being stuck here. Even leaving to go shopping would be an improvement over being under house arrest."

Kanda snorted at my exaggerated complaining, but otherwise didn't acknowledge it. He playfully nudged my ear with his nose. "I don't know what you could possibly buy me. You've already given me everything I could ever want."

The ridiculousness of his claim made me snicker. If this was a new tactic for getting sex out of me, it wasn't working. "I'm still not going to have sex in the shower with you."

He suddenly bit down on my ear. It wasn't hard enough to hurt or draw blood, but it definitely caught my attention. "What was that for?"

I looked up at Kanda's face to find him staring earnestly back at me, his cobalt depths full of all the emotions he usually kept hidden. "I'm being serious, Allen."

He pushed himself up into a seated position, reclining back against the wooden headboard. Following his lead, I sat up as well, climbing into his lap when he gestured for me to join him. Kanda held me close, pressing his chest firmly against my back. Our fingers entwined and he placed our hands on my still mostly flat stomach; I wasn't exactly comfortable with the position, but I was well aware that protesting would only start a pointless fight.

Kanda remained silent, and I waited patiently for him to find his words. I was beyond curious of what it was he wanted to tell me. "I haven't exactly been honest with you lately."

The words made my blood run cold. It was rather obvious that 'lately' referred to the three weeks we'd known about my pregnancy, which meant that whatever it was he had been lying about had something to do with the baby. I felt myself freeze up in apprehension, and I was close to hyperventilating.

Kanda tightened his hold on me, but that did little to reassure me. "I wanted to wait to tell you this until after you started loving our child, but I don't think I can keep it to myself any longer."

"What do you mean? I love-"

My indignant response was quickly cut off. "You may have the others fooled, but I know you still don't want the baby." He moved his head, placing a gentle kiss on my neck. "I know that the only reason you've been as accepting of this whole pregnancy thing as you have been is because I want the baby. So I need you to not freak out over what I'm about to say until I'm completely finished talking, ok?"

I nodded, not trusting my voice. His request came a little late: I was already freaking out inside. My fiancé was lying to me about my pregnancy and he knew that I still didn't want the baby; I was on the verge of my second panic attack in as many days.

Kanda kissed my neck once again, and then he began to explain. "When I told you two months ago that I wanted to adopt a child with you, I didn't mean it. At least, not as much as I claimed to. I didn't particularly want a kid, but I would have been more than willing to raise one with you."

That was disappointing to hear, but not nearly as much as what the words really meant: Kanda didn't want our baby. I wanted to cry at the thought, but I had promised to hear him out before I reacted, so I let him continue talking. "And then you got pregnant. Instead of raising an orphan, I was faced with the prospect of raising a child that was my own flesh and blood. You told me that day that you thought I'd leave you over your pregnancy. Looking back, I can see why you would think that. Even Marie thought it was what I would do, and he knows me better than anyone."

As good as it felt to hear him admit that I was right about something, there was something wrong with what he was saying. And it hurt deeply. "But you didn't leave. You lied and told me you wanted the baby."

"I did lie about that, but not in the way you're thinking." There was a bitterness in his words that said that he was hurt by my accusation, but he didn't acknowledge that and instead kept talking. "Learning that you were pregnant with my baby was, without a doubt, the happiest moment of my life. While I may have only been accepting of the idea of adopting a child, the thought of having one of our own is thrilling. I don't merely 'want' our baby, Allen. I have been madly in love with it from the moment I learned that you were pregnant. And knowing that it's going to be a neko makes me want it even more."

I was so stunned by his words that I couldn't even blink. I had thought that Kanda was being supportive and understanding with my pregnancy out of his feelings for me, that he was accepting of the situation because he wanted to be with me and knew that I had no choice but to keep the baby. But, apparently, that was only what he wanted me to think. He had been lying about how much he wanted the baby. And learning that he didn't just want the baby, that he already loved it, was heart stopping. I couldn't react because I didn't know how to react.

Kanda kissed my neck gently. "I've been downplaying my excitement because I didn't want to freak you out, but I truly want nothing more than to have this baby with you."

The silence that followed his words told me that he was finished with what he had wanted to say. It made me feel so guilty. Kanda didn't just want the baby, he loved it; while I, meanwhile, borderline hated it. I was pretending to want it to keep our friends off my back, and I was only taking care of it out of my respect for life. I couldn't even bring myself to think of the baby as my child. And that just made me feel even worse about the things Kanda had just told me. "What was the point of telling me this?"

"Just that you don't have to get me a birthday present. You're already giving me the greatest gift possible: you're literally growing my child inside your body. I don't need anything else." The sappiness of his words made me frown, but Kanda sensed that I was uncomfortable. He kissed me once more and moved our hands so that just his were resting on my stomach. "I love our child. You don't have to feel guilty for not wanting it, because I do. Ideally, you would want it too, but I'm not going to pressure you into loving our baby. You have to do that on your own. And I am fairly confident that you will someday love our baby more than you love me. But if that doesn't happen, you don't have to feel bad about it."

His words made me cry. It was touching that he knew me that well, but it also brought all those frustrations that I'd been hiding to the surface. "But I _should_ want it. I've gotten in so much trouble in the past for caring too much and for caring about things I shouldn't. I should care about the baby inside me too. It's a baby. And I want kids. I-"

I was cut off by Kanda pressing his lips against mine. He kissed me deeply, and when he finally let go, he rested his forehead against mine so that he was staring into my eyes. "It's also happening in a way that isn't normal. Honestly, you're handling this whole situation really well. You may not love the baby, but you care about it enough to have decided that you're going to make sure it lives, and that's pretty amazing. So just relax, ok? You've got seven months to figure out how you feel about the baby. You don't have to decide anything until you're actually holding it in your arms."

My tears faded as he talked. He always seemed to know exactly what to say to calm me down when I was upset. "Thank you, Yuu."

He kissed me again, only this time his mouth was rough and needy against mine. And when he pushed his tongue between my lips, the mood in the room immediately changed. I wanted to curse the pregnancy hormones that made me so easily turned on, but I wasn't about to turn down sex with Kanda.

As I turned in Kanda's lap so that we were facing each other, he broke the kiss to yank my shirt off over my head. The garment was tossed aside and then he was capturing my lips once again. I wound my fingers into his hair as I pressed my chest against his, moaning into the kiss. His hands did what they always did next when we were lying with me on top of him: as soon as he had pulled my pants and boxers down off my hips, he began playing with the base of my tail.

I cried out in pleasure and began bucking my hips against his, rubbing our growing erections together through the fabric of his boxers. Kanda never stopped teasing that sensitive spot, and through the haze of pleasure that began to overtake me, I was only vaguely aware of his saliva-slicked fingers pressing into me and beginning to stretch my hole. I soon became so lost in euphoria that I didn't even notice that Kanda had moved from underneath me until I felt his length begin to push into me.

When he was fully sheathed inside me, he began to kiss the back of my neck, sending sparks through my already heated body. I came after just a few thrusts; Kanda's ministrations combined with the hormones raging inside my body were just too much to take. He released inside me not long after, and we rode out our orgasms together.

I collapsed against the mattress as my arms and legs gave out; I was too drained to hold myself up any longer. Kanda pulled out of me, and I whimpered as I felt him move away. But he didn't go far. He pulled my boxers and pants back into place before kissing my forehead and rubbing my ear. I knew it was a gesture that meant he was leaving, and I whimpered again, too out of it to actually voice that I wanted him to stay.

He kissed me sweetly and backed away, pulling the blankets over me. "It's still early. Go back to sleep, Moyashi. I'll be back tonight."

The last thing I remember before falling asleep was murmuring, "Happy Birthday, Yuu."


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! You guys are awesome! Several characters we haven't seen yet this story get to make an appearance this chapter.

To Matharose111612: Kanda is now 21. ;)

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

Neah was frustrated. He had been reaching out to Allen telepathically for several days and had gotten zero response from the kid. Part of it was bad timing on his part, he really should have known better than to try to contact the neko on his boyfriend's birthday, but the continued silent treatment was baffling.

He'd been giving the kid a little more space lately, knowing that the neko was upset over something and sensing that he wasn't ready to talk about it yet. Neah suspected that it was delayed angst over finding his parents, so he had decided to stay out of it. But now he needed his nephew's help, and yet he couldn't get it.

He had even called Komui, actually going through official channels for once, but the Chinese man was just as evasive as Allen was. But it did confirm for Neah that something was going on. The story that Allen was sick was obviously a lie; that kid would never let something as trivial as a cold or the flu keep him out of action. Neah pressed for details, but the Supervisor stuck to his story and insisted that it was nothing major.

Though he was unable send Allen to help the Noah, Komui did agree to send another exorcist in his place. Fortunately for Neah, Lenalee was much more forthcoming with information than her brother was. While she stubbornly insisted that she couldn't give details, the Chinese woman had at least told him that Allen's sickness was indeed a lie. Anything beyond that was Allen's story to tell and Neah would have to ask him in person.

.x.x.

The bright whiteness of the ark had always been a little off-putting, but after three weeks of seeing nothing but the inside of headquarters and its small garden, it was a very welcome sight. While I could go basically anywhere given my control over the ark, I technically only had permission to cross the cobblestone street and enter the door to the Asian Branch. It wasn't exactly the freedom that I felt I was missing, but it would at least be a change of scenery. And if that didn't help, that's when I could think about going against my orders and taking the ark somewhere. Though, technically, all I'd have to do is ask Kanda to go with me and then I would have permission. I hadn't used that loophole yet, but this whole 'not leaving headquarters' thing was definitely making me consider it.

I knew Kanda would agree to it; after all, this whole excursion was his idea. He knew that I was feeling stuck at headquarters, so he had suggested that I ask Komui if I could go visit my friends at the Asian Branch. While it wasn't exactly an exciting destination, I was going a little stir-crazy from being cooped up, so I jumped at the chance to go somewhere else.

Komui had agreed to let me go, but only on the condition that I be back by lunchtime. I was surprised that he relented, but that feeling morphed into something much less pleasant when I learned that he had told Bak of my pregnancy and was only letting me go because the blond man had been asking to see me.

The stone walls of the Asian Branch weren't really that much of an improvement over the stone walls of headquarters, and they were especially drab after the brightness of the ark, but it definitely felt like an upgrade. Though it was a little on the damp side, it felt like I could breathe there.

Lou Fa, Rikei, and Shifu were waiting for me at the ark gate and pounced on me the second I stepped through it. They laughed and joked as they escorted me to Bak's office, and even though it was brief, it still felt good to see them. I briefly wondered what they would think if they knew I was pregnant, but I wasn't curious enough to find out; their sympathy towards my fake illness was overbearing enough by itself.

Bak welcomed me formally, but once the three interns were gone, he became much more laid back. The blond threw his arm around my shoulders and led me over to the chairs. I took the seat he offered, already too drained to think about standing any longer. Bak gave me an awkward smile as he took his own seat. It was clear that he wanted to ask about my pregnancy but didn't know how to broach the subject. "How are you doing, Walker?"

I snorted in annoyance. "I'm throwing up all the time, have no energy, and can't eat half the foods I like. How do you _think_ I'm doing?"

The stunned look on Bak's face made me realize that what I had just said was far from polite. I blushed and tried to explain myself. "Sorry. Camilla keeps telling me that being pregnant has brought out my sarcastic side. Looks like she was right."

Bak laughed briefly, but then his attitude sobered. "You're a lot more open about that than I thought you'd be."

I snorted again. "Only because you already know. Komui needs to mind his own business and stop telling people secrets that aren't his to tell."

"He's just trying to look out for you." When I frowned at him, Bak gave me a very serious look. "He only told me because he wants my help figuring out who raped you."

My frown morphed into a grimace, but before I could say anything, Bak laughed. "It's clearly some crazy theory he concocted, there's no way that _you_ would have let someone rape you, right?"

The look on his face made it clear that he was referring to my attempt to blackmail him back when the Asian Branch was under attack. I smiled sheepishly at him, both embarrassed and proud of myself over that memory. "Right. I've tried several times to convince Komui that I wasn't raped, but nothing has worked so far. I really wish he'd drop it; having to constantly explain that this baby was conceived through consensual sex is rather irritating."

My misery made Bak laugh. "I haven't had any luck with that either. He's like a dog with a bone."

I smiled at the comparison, but it fell with Bak's next words. "Have you told him you're gay?"

I dropped my gaze to my lap with a heavy sigh. "I've tried to, but he always cuts me off before I can actually say the words."

It was at that point that what he'd said hit me. I looked up at him in shock for a moment before I realized what must have happened. "Did Fou tell you?"

Bak laughed and shook his head. "No. I've known since the first time you were here. It was fairly obvious that Lou Fa was barking up the wrong tree with that crush she had on you."

I blinked in surprise, both at Bak having known all along that I was gay and at learning that Lou Fa had a crush on me, but I wasn't given the chance to react. Bak gave me a serious smile and changed the subject back to my pregnancy. "I have to ask, was it a one night stand that got you into this mess or are you actually seeing someone?"

"I'm seeing someone." I frowned at the spark that lit up his eyes at my words, knowing exactly what his next question was going to be.

"Who?"

"I don't want to say." I sighed heavily as a thought struck me. "But Fou knows. And I'm fairly certain that she'd tell you. So-"

There was a loud bang as the door to Bak's office was thrown open and Fou barged in. _Speak of the devil..._ She glared indignantly at me with her hands on her hips. "Oi! Walker! You come to visit but you don't greet me? What's up with that?!"

I smiled at her feigned offense. "Hey, Fou."

Before I could say any more than that, I found myself wrapped in a hug. The gesture was unexpected, but even weirder was the motherly way Fou patted my head as she hugged me. "I heard what happened, Kitten. I'm sorry you had to go through that. Getting raped like that must have been awful."

Her words surprised me. She didn't just know I was gay, she knew who I was sleeping with; she should have known that I wasn't raped. I blinked as I pulled away from her hug. "I didn't get raped. Why would you think that?"

Fou just laughed and tousled my hair. "Oh come on, Kitten. There's no way that boyfriend of yours got you pregnant."

I was incredibly offended by her words. She was insulting Kanda and that was definitely something that I took personally. "What the hell is _that_ supposed to mean?! Yuu does _not_ have performance issues!"

She was clearly amused by how huffy I got and tousled my hair again. "I didn't mean it that way, idiot. That guy was a part of the Second Exorcist Program. He's not capable of knocking _anyone_ up."

While I blinked, stunned by the idea that Fou thought Kanda was infertile, Bak let out a strained screech. I didn't pay much attention to him; I knew exactly what he was reacting to and it was best to just let him process it on his own. Staring levelly at Fou, I forced myself to keep the offense I felt out of my voice. "Kanda is the only person I have ever slept with. He is _not_ sterile."

"You slept with Kanda?" Bak had finally calmed down enough to form a coherent sentence. "When did that happen? The last time I saw you two in the same room, he stabbed you in the stomach."

"Last October. The day this happened." I gestured at the cat ears on my head with the words, knowing he wouldn't need more information than that.

Bak blinked a few times and his wild-eyed look faded to one of uncertainty. "And you're positive that he's the father of your baby?"

Before I was done nodding, Bak pulled me from my chair, and I found myself dragged down to the same lab where they had done the testing on me after Crowned Clown had reformed. I was confused for only a few seconds before I realized what Bak was after. He wanted to do tests on me and the baby because of Kanda's involvement with the Second Exorcist Project. And the possibility that the baby had inherited something scared me more than the thought of tests did.

.x.x.

Once Allen returned from the Asian Branch, he ate a quick lunch then spent the afternoon reading in his bedroom. However, he was so distracted by what had happened that morning that he didn't get very far into the novel.

A knock at the door made him throw aside the book and jump up from the couch. He flew to the door, reaching it before Kanda could get it unlocked. The samurai was quickly pulled inside and wrapped in a tight hug as the neko buried his face in his neck. "Welcome home, Yuu."

Kanda smiled at the tight hug, thinking the Moyashi's excitement came from him feeling good about getting to leave headquarters for a little bit that day. He kissed the top of the neko's head as he scratched at one of his cat ears. "Did you enjoy your visit to the Asian Branch?"

Allen laughed, but then it cut off with a sigh. "Yes and no. It was nice to get away, but Bak nearly blew a gasket when he learned you knocked me up."

The neko shuddered briefly at the memory of the tests he'd been put through, but then he sighed again. "He put me through an entire physical work up, but at least we now know that you didn't pass anything strange on to the baby. It was quite a relief to learn that it didn't inherit anything from the Second Exorcist Project. Though I could have done without the confirmation that the baby's a neko."

Kanda laughed at Allen's pout, but the moment was interrupted by an insistent knocking at the door. The lovers thought about ignoring it, but it was followed by a very demanding shout from Lenalee. "I know you're in there, Allen Walker! Open the door this second or there's going to be trouble!"

Allen scrambled out of Kanda's arms and over to the door. The sickly sweet smile on Lenalee's face was expected, but the dark haired young man with her was not. The second the neko's eyes landed on the Fourteenth Noah, he slammed the door shut.

Or he tried to. Neah caught the door before it closed and pushed his way inside. "Come on, Allen. Be nice. I just want to know what's going on."

While Allen stumbled through an attempt at a denial, Lenalee left. She knew the pair needed privacy and had only come so that Allen would have no choice but to let Neah in; now that that was accomplished, she had no reason or desire to stay.

Kanda, on the other hand, definitely wanted to stay. It was painfully obvious to him that Allen had yet to tell his uncle that he was pregnant, and he wanted to see the brat try. Or rather, he was curious as to whether the neko would explain or if he'd force Neah to read his memories.

When Allen finally stopped babbling, Neah fixed him with a serious stare. "I know you're lying. There's a reason for why you've been avoiding me and why you had Komui lie and tell me you were too sick to come help me. So, out with it already. What's. Going. On?"

Allen blushed fiercely as he backed away. "Komui didn't lie. I _am_ too sick to leave headquarters. It's just a ... different kind of sickness than he led you to believe."

He cut off abruptly as his back collided with the wall. He squeezed his eyes shut and curled in on himself to hide from Neah's reaction to what he was going to say next. "I'm pregnant."

Neah laughed. "Come on, Allen. You can come up with a better lie than _that_. It's not even remotely believable that _you_ would be pregnant."

"He's not lying." Kanda spoke from where he was sitting on the back of the couch. He had planned to stay out of it and just enjoy the show, but these two clearly needed his help.

The Fourteenth abruptly turned his focus to the samurai. "What? How?"

Kanda shrugged. "It's part of the curse his mother put on him."

Neah turned his focus back to Allen who still looked terrified. " _Natasha_ did this to you?! Where is she?"

Allen shook his head. "We haven't been able to reach her. She's helping Cross with his mission and they've gone off the grid."

The neko suddenly smirked. "And, technically, it was Kanda that did this to me."

The samurai snorted. "We've been over this, Moyashi. If you want to blame someone for your pregnancy, blame your mother; it was her curse that did this."

Allen frowned. "You know I can't do that."

Kanda just snorted again. "Then blame the man who kidnapped you. Or, better yet, blame Komui; none of this would be happening if he had told you it was possible."

The words made Allen giggle, which made Kanda scowl and cut him off. "Whatever you do, just don't blame me. I was as ignorant of all this as you were."

Neah laughed at the interaction between the pair, making them turn their attention back on him. "So, the two of you are going to have a baby... I feel sorry for whoever tries to pursue it when it's older. You're going to make their life a living hell."


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: You guys are awesome, thanks for reviewing!

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

To my surprise, it wasn't awkward at all between Allen and me after my last attempt to get him to go out with me; he had been incredibly cold about it, but I finally saw how much my crush had been bothering him. I was still working on letting go of those feelings, but it helped a lot knowing that his past 'maybe someday's were really him not wanting to hurt my feelings. We would never be anything more than friends, and I was finally ok with that.

The only awkward thing between us now was that I was more excited for his baby than he was. But that was to be expected. It would have been weird if he was as bouncing off the walls excited as I was. Being pregnant wasn't something he should have had to deal with, so it was perfectly acceptable that he was less than thrilled about it. Especially with how bad his morning sickness was. Allen wasn't going to be truly happy with his baby until it was no longer making him sick.

But aside from that, the neko was doing really well. With Jerry keeping an eye on his food intake, there was no work involved with being on 'babysitting duty'; Allen was perfectly capable of taking care of himself and his unborn baby by himself. The neko never pushed himself too far when training, he knew when to rest, and he was very good at keeping track of his water intake. I think I was the only one who saw it that way, Lavi and Camilla both had a tendency to nag the neko about little things, but all I ever did when babysitting was hang out with him like normal.

Which was probably a good thing for Allen, because with my brother's obsessive sister complex, I was the one most often assigned to staying at headquarters with him.

I certainly didn't mind. I liked hanging out with Allen, especially now that we were back to being best friends. Plus, it meant that the odds were good that I would be the one around when the neko finally decided that he was ready to tell everyone about his pregnancy.

The last five weeks had been rather interesting. Learning that Allen was pregnant seemed to have changed everything at headquarters, even though only a small group of us knew about it. The rest of the Order all believed the lie that Allen had a serious stomach flu. But there was no reason for them to suspect anything different; the neko's severe morning sickness was causing him to leave meals to go vomit, and everyone knew that he had to be sick to leave food on the table like that.

Allen had taken to eating his meals late, after the majority of people had eaten and the cafeteria was relatively empty. It was partly because he was self-conscious of his morning sickness, but it was mostly because of Jerry. Allen relied heavily on the chef to keep track of the things that made him sick, so he chose to eat at times when Jerry could give his full attention to preparing his meals.

I continued to eat at my normal time; the babysitting felt less forced when I was staying after a meal to keep Allen company than it did when I forced myself to eat when he ate.

Sometimes though, the staying late really sucked.

I timed it wrong today and finished my food almost half an hour before Allen arrived. It might not have been a big deal, except that he and I were the only exorcists at headquarters, so there was no one to keep me company while I waited for him.

Allen smiled at me as he approached my table, but it didn't reach his eyes. Or his ears. His cat ears had become rather wilted lately, no doubt a reaction to the stress from his pregnancy, and they'd stopped perking up when he smiled.

We made small talk as he worked his way through his mountain of food. I didn't think anything of it when he suddenly spit out whatever it was that was in his mouth, or when slammed his hands down on the table as he pushed himself to his feet before running towards the cafeteria doors. It wasn't weird that something he had eaten had made him so sick that he had to go throw up.

No, what was weird was the violent stream of curse words that he let out as he did so.

It was rare for the neko to say even one swear word - when he wasn't yelling at Kanda that is - and hearing him spout out that many in a row was a tiny bit terrifying. I stared after him, so shocked by the swearing that I couldn't make myself move from my seat to follow him. And I wasn't the only one to react that way. Everyone within hearing distance, which, with how loud Allen was swearing, was everyone in the dining hall, froze at hearing him say those words so vehemently.

I snapped out of it when Jerry came over to our table, like he usually did when Allen got sick like that, but Allen's reaction had made the chef a lot more concerned than he usually was. "What happened?"

I could only shrug. "Something made him sick, but beyond that..."

Our eyes locked onto the plate Allen had been eating from at the same time. When we saw what was on it, Jerry swore out loud and I was tempted to do the same. _Damn. Well that certainly explains why Allen was so upset._

A half-eaten stick of mitarashi dango lay innocently on top of the other untouched sticks, but its meaning settled heavily over us. If being pregnant meant that Allen could no longer eat his favorite food, the next few months just got a _lot_ harder.

Right as I began debating whether or not I should go fetch him and make sure he was alright, Allen returned, looking a little worse for wear after his bout of nausea but otherwise perfectly normal. He didn't appear even the slightest bit angry or upset. It was rather off-putting. Especially when he sat down at the table and returned to eating his food, ignoring Jerry as the chef quickly whisked the plate of dango away.

I watched him for a moment before I gathered the courage to talk to him. "Allen? Are you ok?"

His attitude changed completely with my question. In the blink of an eye, he went from eerily calm to spouting swear words again. It was hard to make sense of what he was saying, he was swearing so hard.

And then, without any warning, the swearing turned to tears.

Allen was still shouting angrily, his whole body shaking with fury, but now there were tears streaming down his face. I still couldn't understand the words he was saying, but I finally understood the meaning behind them. This must have been the first time Allen had really allowed himself to cry over his pregnancy. He was finally voicing all of his anger and frustration with his situation instead of keeping it to himself.

As quickly as it started, the neko was back to normal, calmly eating his lunch as if he hadn't just blown up in the middle of the cafeteria. There was one huge problem with that though. Everyone had witnessed his outburst. Which meant that everyone had heard what he'd said. And if they'd caught the same pieces I had...

I wanted to leave the neko alone, but I knew he needed to hear this from me. "Umm, Allen?"

When I didn't say anything more, he cocked his head at me, his cat ears twitching briefly in confusion. "Yes, Lenalee?"

Swallowing hard, I braced myself for another outburst. "...You just told the entire cafeteria about your pregnancy..."

.x.x.

It felt like my face was on fire, I was blushing that furiously. With Lenalee's words, it had finally become clear to me that everyone had been watching me from the moment I ran from the cafeteria to throw up, and they had all heard every word I'd said while I was venting my anger towards no longer being able to eat my favorite food.

Forcing my embarrassment down, I scowled fiercely at the others, who were all staring at me like I'd grown a second head. Or perhaps like I was a man who had just announced that he was pregnant. It was clear that they were all dying of curiosity, so I decided to rip off the bandage and get this over with as quickly as possible. "I'm ten weeks along. The baby's due in January. The whole thing is possible because I'm a neko. That's all you need to know, so that's all I'll say on the subject."

They began to bombard me with questions after my announcement, but having said my piece, I was content to ignore them. Lenalee placated the crowd by explaining that the baby was also a neko and that I was keeping it, meaning that they would have plenty of time to get the answers they wanted at a later date and there was no need to try to pry them out of me right now. While I was thankful that she got them to shut up and leave me alone, I definitely wished that she had kept those details to herself.

As I focused my attention back on my food, I couldn't help noticing how bland it all was. While there were a few staples I could no longer eat, it was mostly spices and sauces that I couldn't tolerate, and without those, everything I ate was bland and flavorless. In comparison anyway. Jerry was a fabulous chef, and his bland food was still better than the flavorful dishes at most restaurants.

I knew from the pregnancy books I'd been reading that once I was out of the first trimester, my appetite would start to return and I'd be able to eat most of those things again, but that was still three weeks away, and it did little to make me feel better right now. I just knew in my gut that mitarashi dango was going to be one of those things that I wasn't going to be able eat again until after my pregnancy was over.

And that sucked.

I had already given up so much for a baby that I didn't want, and now I had to give up my favorite food.

.x.x.

The news that Allen Walker had conceived a child spread like wildfire through the Order. By the day's end, everyone at headquarters knew about the neko's pregnancy.

This prompted a group of finders to hold a secret meeting. It wasn't the first time that they had met like that. No, that was nearly nine months earlier, on the third of October: the day they had learned that Allen Walker was now a neko. Back then, they had made a pact. A pact that said that none of them would act on their urges towards the neko. Allen was to remain innocent and pure. So the finders had sworn an oath to each other that they would always keep their hands to themselves and never ever touch the boy.

And now it appeared that someone had broken their pact. Someone had gone against their code and not only had they raped the young exorcist, they had impregnated him as well. The finders were all furious and vowed revenge on whoever the guilty party was.

Elsewhere at headquarters, a certain samurai was returning home from his daily mission. He was met at the ark gate by the green haired Chinese woman he had come to regard as a little sister. He probably would have ignored her, little sister or not, she was still annoying, but she didn't give him the chance.

Lenalee stared seriously at Kanda as she pulled him aside. The urgent whisper that came next put him on edge. "Allen's pregnancy came out at lunch today. Everyone knows now."

The samurai didn't know how to react to that without giving away something he shouldn't, so he simply waited to see if Lenalee would say more. Which she quickly did. "His usual order of mitarashi dango set off his morning sickness and he did not take it well. He's more than a little pissed that he can't eat his favorite food anymore."

Lenalee smiled briefly at the understatement, but then she grew serious again. "So be nice to him. He's had a hard day. The last thing he needs is for you to pick a fight with him, understand?"

"Che. You need to relax, woman." Kanda rolled his eyes and tried to push away from her, but she kept a firm grip on his arm.

He glared at her, but she did not let go and instead returned his glare. "I said, _do you understand_ , Kanda?"

They kept up the staring contest for a moment before Kanda caved. "Che. Fine. I promise I won't cause a scene. Happy now?"

He figured she must have been satisfied, because she let go of his arm, allowing him to storm off. Lenalee sighed to herself; some inkling told her that Kanda was going to go do exactly what she had just made him promise not to do, but she also knew that despite appearances, the samurai actually did listen to her, so she could only hope that he would do so now.

.x.x.

Free of Lenalee, I headed straight for the Moyashi's room. I let myself in without knocking first; if Allen was as upset as Lenalee seemed to think, he wasn't going to open the door for me.

I found the neko sprawled on the couch with a book. He was staring at the page in front of him, but I could tell that he wasn't actually reading it. He sighed when he heard me come in and tossed the book on the coffee table. "I take it you heard what happened?"

"Lenalee told me."

Allen sighed again and pushed himself up into a seated position. "You finally got your wish. Everyone knows. I hope you're happy."

The bitterness in his voice made me frown. I sat across from him on the coffee table. "Moyashi. I wanted everyone to know that we're having a baby together. I didn't want them to find out like this any more than you did."

He stared at me blankly for a moment before he decided that I wasn't lying to him. He sighed again. "This is all your fault."

I raised an eyebrow at him, trying not to lose control of my temper. "I thought we agreed that you were going to blame Komui for your pregnancy."

He snorted and sprawled back out on the couch. "Maybe. But it's definitely _your_ fault that I can't eat my favorite food anymore."

"How do you figure that?"

Allen shook his head at me. "My favorite food is one you hate, and this baby is half you. It clearly doesn't like it either."

I laughed lightly as I leaned over and tousled his hair. "Che. Baka Moyashi."

Without warning, the neko was suddenly in my lap. He wrapped his arms tightly around me and buried his face in my neck, sobbing heavily as he clung to me. It was an incredibly uncomfortable position, so I carefully picked him up and carried him into the bedroom. He continued to cling to me even after I had settled us on the bed, and I let him. It was far easier to let him cry himself out than to try to talk him down.

That reasoning only went so far though.

I continued to hold Allen close to me long after he had cried himself to sleep. I loved having the neko in my arms. I loved that I was the one he trusted with his true feelings.

I loved that boy and it was at times like that that I knew he really did love me back. He actually meant it when he said 'I love you' to me.


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Sorry this is late, life got a little too busy last week.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

It had been a long day. Lenalee and Camilla had ambushed the Moyashi at dinner last night, stealing all of his time for the rest of the evening; I hadn't even been able to sneak into his room that night. Which meant that, on top of having to sleep alone for the first time in four weeks, I hadn't seen Allen since he had woken up in my arms after crying himself out that afternoon. It was frustrating. Both that I hadn't seen him and that I had grown so attached to him. And that just made today's mission worse.

So when I returned to headquarters, I immediately set about finding my Moyashi. I checked the garden first; the neko had taken to hiding out there whenever his friends were nagging him about his pregnancy, and I figured that after what had happened the day before, he would definitely be searching for peace and quiet today. He wasn't there though, and I had checked thoroughly; I knew that garden like the back of my hand, which meant that I knew all of the possible hiding places.

From there I decided to check Allen's bedroom, and that was clearly where the neko was, as I was still a ways down the hall and I could already hear Lenalee pounding on his door and demanding to be let in. I was immediately concerned. Something bad was happening if Allen was ignoring Lenalee; the brat was far too polite to ignore anyone, much less his best friend.

Knowing that if I was questioned, I could safely explain away my concern as part of Komui's request that I help with the babysitting, I went ahead and approached Lenalee. "What's going on?"

The Chinese woman jumped slightly, clearly unaware of my presence, but she collected herself quickly and turned to face me. "Allen's been hiding in his room all day. He hasn't even come out for food. No one has seen him since he went to bed last night."

She sighed heavily before continuing on in a whisper. "I'm worried that he's finally snapped. He's been handling things pretty well so far, but after everything that happened yesterday... I think it's finally hit him that he's pregnant... I think he might be having a breakdown..."

I couldn't bring myself to share her worries. But while I was fairly certain that Allen wasn't having a breakdown, as he'd already done that several times while we were alone, it _was_ entirely possible that he was having emotional issues and was hiding like the brat he was. He hadn't wanted anyone to know about his pregnancy, and now everyone did; he was clearly being a child and hiding from them. _Baka_.

Lenalee had gone back to banging on Allen's door. And while I was debating whether or not I should help her force the neko out of hiding, that was when Camilla showed up. She nodded briefly at me to acknowledge my presence, but then her focus immediately went to Lenalee. "Did you find Allen?"

The Chinese woman nodded tersely. "I've heard a few movements inside, so he must be in there."

She kicked the door in frustration and it rattled on its hinges; it was clear to all of us that she was ready to kick it down. "He won't let me in though."

While Lenalee returned to banging on the door, Camilla turned to me and began making a weird hand gesture. It only took half a second to figure out that she was miming something, but I couldn't figure out what it was.

At my blank stare, the Italian woman rolled her eyes in frustration. Then her hand slipped into her pocket, and as she fixed me with a very pointed look, she pulled a key out of her pocket. _Oh._

Finally understanding what she was asking for, I reached into my own pocket and pulled out my key to Allen's room.

Camilla took it swiftly, making sure Lenalee's attention was otherwise occupied before she did so. With the key securely hidden in her palm, she placed her other hand on Lenalee's shoulder. "How about you let me try to pick the lock _before_ you break down the door?"

Lenalee blinked at her for a moment. "You can pick locks?"

The Italian woman laughed. "Allen's been teaching me, though I don't think he anticipated me using it on him."

It was definitely plausible that she was telling the truth, Allen had picked the lock on my door more than once, but I didn't care enough to find out if he really was teaching her.

Lenalee stepped aside, allowing Camilla access to Allen's door. The Italian woman made a show of examining the lock, hemming and hawing as she moved around and occasionally tossed her braid over her shoulder. From there she moved to pretending to pick it, using her body to block what her hands were doing. When the lock clicked, she even exclaimed in triumph. It was so believable that she had actually picked the lock that I might have bought her act if I hadn't been in on the ruse. Camilla pushed the door open for Lenalee, passing my key back to me while the Chinese woman's back was turned.

It was eerily quiet in Allen's room, and as we traipsed into the bedroom, that unease only grew. We found him curled up on his side in bed, almost in the fetal position, and for a moment, it looked like we were right about him hiding. But then the smell hit us.

The smell of fresh vomit was so overpowering that it stopped us all in our tracks.

It only took a moment to figure out that the smell was coming from the nearly overflowing bowl next to the bed. From there it was rather obvious that the way the Moyashi's white hair clung limply to his head and the pathetic way he was curled in on himself were because he was sick, not because he'd been hiding in bed all day.

Camilla and I reacted at the same time but in different ways. While she snatched up the bowl from beside the bed and took it to the bathroom to dump, I approached my Moyashi, brushing his sweat-drenched bangs aside and placing my palm on his forehead. What I felt startled me, and I almost jerked my hand away. "Shit."

Turning quickly to the still stunned Lenalee, I hissed at her. "He's burning up. Go get Komui."

She snapped back to the present and whined at me. "Why do _I_ have to go?"

"Because you're the fastest person here. The Moyashi needs medical attention right away." When it looked like she was going to argue again, I continued. "You're the only one your psychotic brother will listen to. He'd never believe it if it came from me."

Lenalee blinked, but then she nodded quickly and sped off, activating her Innocence in the process.

Camilla returned from the bathroom then, and I numbly let her push my hand off Allen's forehead so that she could replace it with a damp cloth. From there she went and opened the window, allowing a breeze in to the clear out the smell.

I wasn't really paying attention to her though. My thoughts were all focused on the Moyashi. Logically, I knew it was just a run-of-the-mill illness that he would fight off in the next few days, but the image of him curled up in bed like that was reminding me of the last time I had seen him look so small and frail: the day his mother cursed him. And with those memories in my head, I was definitely worried that this could be something awful.

As I absently stroked his hair, Allen stirred, nestling closer to my hand. And when he slowly blinked open his eyes, the silver was hazy and glazed over. He blinked tiredly a few times, and then he began to mumble at me. "'M sorry, Yuu... I didn't... feed the baby... today..."

I almost laughed at the words, the ridiculousness of them making my worry over him disappear. The Moyashi was going to be perfectly fine if his first thought was the need to apologize to me. I leaned down and gave him a brief kiss on the top of his head. "Don't worry about it, Moyashi. You just need to focus on getting better, ok?"

I don't know if he heard me or not; when I looked down at his face, he was asleep again. But while he seemed to have relaxed, I definitely wasn't. His words may have assured me that _he_ was alright, but they had also turned my focus on something that hadn't crossed my mind yet: our baby.

I had lost sight of the baby because of my concern for the Moyashi, he was definitely my priority, but now our child was front and center in my worries. Allen could survive with minimal food while he was sick, but our baby might not. It was so tiny and fragile, only about the size of an olive according to the Moyashi's pregnancy books (which I was reading in my spare time), and I had no clue if its mother being sick would harm it.

Fortunately, I didn't have to wait too long to find out.

Lenalee returned, bringing not only her brother with her, but the Head Nurse as well. I pulled away from Allen to give them room to examine him. Together they threw the blankets off of the neko and rolled him over onto his back. In a testament to how out of it he was, the Moyashi didn't wake and his tail hung lifelessly off the edge of the bed.

The others all gasped when Komui pulled off Allen's shirt, and it took me a second to realize what they were reacting to. Lying on his back like that, with his stomach exposed, the slight bulge caused by his pregnancy was painfully obvious. Allen wasn't showing much, but he was showing, and that was what had caught the others' attention. It just wasn't news to me. I had watched that bump grow over the last few weeks, so I knew exactly what it looked like.

Lenalee was the first of the others to speak, breaking the tense silence that seemed to fill the room. "He's only ten weeks along. Is it normal for him to be showing already?"

"Given his small frame, and the fact that he's not female, I'm inclined to say that it is." The head nurse spoke as she leaned over Allen and began feeling around his abdomen. "Every pregnancy is different, so-"

She cut off abruptly when Allen twitched violently, almost hitting her in the process. Komui chuckled once. "Sorry. Should have warned you about that. Then again, I didn't think he'd react like that while unconscious..."

Realizing he'd rambled off topic, Komui quickly cleared his throat and returned to business. "Allen doesn't like to have his belly touched. It's a protective instinct that comes from being part cat. As you saw, he can get pretty violent about it."

That was new. I touched Allen's belly all the time and he had never reacted like that. Sure, he'd never been exactly happy with the gesture, but he had never hit me over it. It was also strange that he had never mentioned hitting Komui, but then again, if the reaction was truly one of his cat instincts, it wasn't particularly surprising that he didn't want to call attention to it. I wondered if he was restraining himself when I touched his belly or if his instincts somehow recognized me as safe because I was the baby's father. Finding out would have to wait until the Moyashi was better; I couldn't ask anyone but him about it if I didn't want to reveal our relationship.

While I was lost in thought, Komui and the head nurse finished their exam. They whispered amongst themselves for a moment before the Head Nurse turned to the rest of us to give their diagnosis. "It's just a fever, nothing serious. Allen should be fine in a couple days. But the fact that he hasn't eaten at all today is worrisome. We don't know how the lack of nourishment will affect his unborn baby, so we need to get him down to the infirmary where we can hook him up to an IV. I'll return with a gurney and-"

"Che." The words the matron was about to say pissed me off a little. I pushed past her roughly and lifted the Moyashi off the bed. With one arm hooked under his knees and the other under his arms, I held him securely to my chest. It almost felt like I was imagining it, but Allen seemed to snuggle closer to me. "The brat weighs nothing. It's perfectly easy to carry him."

The head nurse didn't argue with me, she just turned and led the way out of the room. She clearly saw that it was quicker this way.

While Allen truly was light enough to carry, being asleep made him a lot heavier, and even though his new room was in the wing nearest to the infirmary - which I was fairly certain wasn't a coincidence - it was still a hard trek.

But I did it gladly. Carrying my Moyashi to the infirmary while he was sick was something I was happy to do for him. It was a way for me to help him that wouldn't hurt his pride or give away our relationship; it was also one of the few ways for me to support him during his pregnancy, and I definitely felt like I wasn't doing enough of that.


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: Here's the rest of Allen's fever and some chaos with Lavi. ;)

To Matharose111612: Cross will probably not be showing up for a while. As my timeline stands right now, he won't be finding out until after Teidoll does, which is still a few chapters away.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

Allen's sickness made several things very clear to the Head Nurse.

It was her job, and life's purpose, to keep the exorcists as healthy and as whole as possible. So even when they weren't in the infirmary, and therefore directly under her care, she watched them. The fighting between Allen and Kanda had caught her eye from the very beginning, but rather than chide them on the reckless behavior (save for on occasions where they were injured and shouldn't be fighting), she had chosen to merely observe them. If her instincts were right, those boys were fighting out of a stubborn unwillingness to admit that they liked the other romantically. The fact that Kanda came to check on Allen whenever the younger was in the infirmary was proof enough for her; for two people who claimed to hate each other, the pair showed a little too much concern for each other's injuries. And no matter what the Order's official stance on homosexuality may have been, the matron wholeheartedly approved of those two boys getting together; sex was a much less harmful way to blow off steam than trying to kill each other was.

But things changed when Allen became a neko. All those subtle little things they did stopped. And the matron could only conclude that their feelings had faded and they were no longer interested in each other. A conclusion that Allen's rape and subsequent pregnancy supported.

Yet, as she watched the two that day, she realized that that was wrong. She saw the way Allen unconsciously curled into Kanda's body as the elder carried him, as well as the protective glint in the samurai's eyes and the tenseness of his body when the IV needle was inserted into Allen's arm. Add that to the fact that the unconscious neko didn't flinch when Kanda's hand had brushed across his pregnant belly, and it all pointed to one thing: their behavior didn't change all those months ago because they had lost interest, it had changed because they had gotten together. Kanda was the father of Allen's baby.

Lenalee was a little slower on the uptake than the head nurse was. She had noticed all those same things, but it would still be a few weeks before she would put everything together. Right now, her concern for her friends was all that mattered and thinking about anything else was pointless.

As soon as the chaos over Allen's fever had died down, Lenalee forced Kanda into the chair in Allen's infirmary room, claiming he needed to rest after carrying the pregnant neko halfway across headquarters. Carrying Allen really wasn't all that difficult, but Kanda was not about to pass on such a good excuse for sitting at his Moyashi's bedside, so he let the Chinese woman bully him into it.

He wished he could be alone with the neko; he didn't feel like he could properly express his concern for Allen with the others around. But he was never going to be able to come up with something that would make Lenalee leave, so sitting in silence beside the neko was going to be the best he would get.

Almost as if she was sensing his train of thought, which really wasn't all that hard for her to do in this situation, Camilla threw her arm around Lenalee's shoulder and began guiding the younger woman from the room. "We're not helping anyone by just standing here. Let's go get some dinner."

And with that, the two women were gone and Kanda was alone with the still unconscious Allen. The neko looked better now that the IV had pumped some fluids and nutrients into his body, but he was still a sickly pale. Kanda didn't really know what to do in the situation. He couldn't help the Moyashi recover, that was just a matter of being patient and waiting, and the samurai did not like feeling helpless. He wanted to hold his Moyashi's hand or brush that stray chunk of white hair out of the neko's face, but he knew that with his luck, that would be the exact moment someone came into the room, and he'd be forced to explain why he was touching the boy.

Kanda was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of someone clearing their throat. He didn't have to look to know that that someone was the head nurse. It wasn't hard to guess that she wanted him to leave so that Allen could recover in peace.

He glared up at her in response. "Don't bother trying to kick me out, I won't go."

The matron calmly met his stare. His stubbornness was expected, but kicking him out wasn't what she was truly after. "If you can answer my questions correctly, I won't."

Her words had Kanda confused and suspicious. "What kind of questions?"

Unfazed by the samurai's deepening scowl, she continued to stare levelly at him. "Mr. Walker's baby is yours, correct?"

Without any hesitation, Kanda nodded and broke the stare; he may have agreed to keeping their relationship a secret, but he had decided that he wasn't going to lie when asked directly about it, especially not to the head nurse. Turning to lean over Allen, he reached under the neko's shirt, quickly finding the chain Allen wore around his neck. He pulled it out, letting the ring dangle from his fingers where the matron could see it. "Does that answer your questions?"

She nodded, immediately understanding the meaning behind the ring, and backed towards the door. "Yes it does. You can stay as long as you'd like, but if you want your relationship to remain a secret, then I'd suggest leaving before the night nurse comes to check on him."

.x.x.

I don't really remember much of the three days after the news of my pregnancy came out. I spent most of that time sleeping. And in those rare times when I _was_ awake, I was either throwing up or completely out of it - nearly delirious from my fever. I vaguely remember hearing a nurse tell my friends that it was good that I was throwing up; it meant that I was still experiencing morning sickness, which in turn meant that the baby was still alive. There were a few flashes of navy hair that I hoped were Kanda visiting me, but beyond that, there was nothing until my fever broke and my head cleared.

I had woken up feeling perfectly fine, which meant that it was more than a little startling to learn that I was in the infirmary and hooked up to an IV. If it weren't for Lenalee immediately pushing me back down when I tried to sit up, I probably would have gotten up and left. Instead, I got to hold still for the next hour while the nurses examined me and made sure that my fever truly had gone down.

Then they had to examine my middle in order to make sure the baby was ok. That got irritating really fast, and I didn't hesitate to say as much to the nurses. But they wouldn't accept that they didn't need to do their examination because I could hear the baby's heart beating, so they did their tests anyway. I did get an apology when they were done, along with a promise that they'd listen to me the next time, but that did little to help my sour mood.

I thought I'd be free once they were done. I was very wrong about that. They kept me on bed rest and IV fluids for another two days before I was allowed to return to my usual routine. God I hated getting sick.

But the worst part had to be that my friends all saw my bare stomach. I'd been trying to hide it by ditching my vests and no longer tucking in my shirts, but that was apparently all for nothing. Knowing that other people now knew that I was starting to show made my pregnancy that much more real, and that gave me some very conflicted feelings. While part of me just wanted to hide in a corner and cry, the rational part argued that showing meant that I was that much closer to being done with this whole thing.

On the other hand, I was very much dreading how Lavi would react to that news when he returned from his mission.

.x.x.

As expected, the second he returned to headquarters, Lavi made a beeline straight for Allen. The redhead had heard about everything that had happened in his absence and he was excited to hear about all of it from Allen's perspective.

But more than anything, he wanted to see Allen's baby bump with his own eyes.

So when he caught sight of the neko waiting in line in the dining hall, he headed straight for him and captured him in a tight hug. Allen returned the hug, which Lavi took as permission to get what he was after. But when he slid his left hand towards the neko's stomach, the boy's attitude abruptly changed.

At feeling Lavi's hand make contact with his belly, Allen immediately swiped at the redhead. He was acting purely on instinct, not even aware that his claws were out or that he struck the other in the face. At least, not until he saw the blood welling from the scratches on Lavi's left cheek.

Allen began apologizing profusely, repeatedly telling Lavi that he hadn't meant to hit him as he led the redhead down to the infirmary. Lavi clasped a handkerchief to his cheek as they walked, trying to stop the bleeding and ignoring the neko's apologies; that could wait until after his cheek had been bandaged.

They passed Komui and Bookman as they entered the infirmary and the pair followed them inside. One look at the injured redhead and the look of remorse on Allen's face, and they knew that the neko had hit Lavi. Komui questioned the pair as the nurse on duty began cleaning up Lavi's scratched cheek. "What did you do this time, Lavi?"

The redhead winced as the nurse applied an antiseptic to his wound. "I didn't do anything. Allen hit me out of nowhere."

Komui and Bookman shared a knowing look, and then the Supervisor turned back to Lavi. "You touched his belly, didn't you?"

"So?" Lavi blinked at Komui, not understanding what was wrong with that.

From where he was standing in the back and watching the nurse treat Lavi, Allen was also confused; he was unconscious when the others had discovered his instinct to hit when his pregnant belly was touched, and he still hadn't been told about it.

Komui shook his head at Lavi, nearly laughing in disbelief that the redhead had missed the obvious. "Allen's half cat, Lavi. He's going to lash out when he feels like his baby is being threatened."

While Komui's explanation made sense, all it really did was upset the redhead. "How was I supposed to know that?!"

"Baka. You wouldn't walk up to a pregnant cat and pick it up by its stomach. That's just common sense. The same thing applies here. You don't mess with wild animals." Finished with lecturing his apprentice, Bookman turned to Allen and gave him a small bow. "I apologize for the idiot's behavior."

Still feeling like he was the one at fault, and a little offended at being called a wild animal, Allen was unsure how to respond to the apology. He tried to stammer out a polite acceptance, but he was cut off by the nurse. "I can't get the bleeding stopped, the wound is too deep. I'm going to have to go get the doctor."

She left the room, leaving Komui to continue with the first aid. Allen began to apologize for hitting Lavi so hard that he needed stitches, but he once again found himself cut off. Bookman scowled at him with such ferocity that the neko shrank further against the wall. "Do not apologize for your instinct to protect your child, Allen. You reacted exactly how you were supposed to react in that situation. This was all Lavi's fault. He apparently didn't learn his lesson the last time you hit him."

Remembering that this was the second time that Allen had hauled off and punched him only made Lavi more upset over the situation. "Shut up and let him apologize, Panda-Jiji."

The demand was met with a stony silence. Bookman and Komui both stared critically at Lavi, wondering how stupid he must be to still feel like he was the one who had been wronged. Allen's desire to apologize had faded with the demand; much like when he had broken the redhead's nose, the others had talked him out of feeling like he had done something wrong.

Before anyone could say anything, the nurse returned with the doctor. While he headed straight for Lavi and began examining his cheek, she dragged Allen from the room to get his hand cleaned up, not believing the neko's earlier assertion that it wasn't his blood on his fingers.

With Allen gone, Komui and Bookman returned to lecturing Lavi for treating the neko carelessly, talking nonstop while the doctor stitched up the scratches on his cheek. Lavi got the message in the end, realizing that because he was pregnant, Allen was going to be more in tune with his cat instincts than he usually was, and that he'd have to be more careful around the neko if he didn't want to get hit again.

The lecture ended when the doctor kicked them out of the room, needing privacy to finish stitching up Lavi's face. While Bookman left to return to his work, Komui went to check on Allen. The Supervisor was intending to chide the neko for activating his Innocence while he was pregnant - who knew what effect that kind of thing would have on his unborn child. But Komui never made it that far.

Instead, he bumped into the Head Nurse.

It was rare that she managed to catch the Supervisor alone, so she seized the opportunity to pull him aside and tell him about the things she'd observed while Allen was sick. She kept certain relationship revelations to herself, like she had promised, but she didn't hesitate to inform Komui that it was her expert opinion that Allen wasn't raped. And for the first time, Komui actually listened. He didn't accept it, of course, but the matron had opened his mind to the possibility that Allen's baby was conceived consensually, and that was definitely a step in the right direction.


	18. Chapter 18

A/N: Thanks for reviewing!

To Tsukiko K: Lavi's not thinking clearly because he's in pain and he's angry over being hit. He'll apologize once he has calmed down and is feeling better. ;)

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

A week had passed since Allen had inadvertently announced his pregnancy to the entire cafeteria, but aside from those who were able to hear the news straight from the horse's mouth, everyone else suspected that the Moyashi's pregnancy was just an unsubstantiated rumor. But that all changed when Allen hit Lavi in the cafeteria that day. The neko nearly clawing the face off the Bookman apprentice just for touching his belly was all the proof they needed to accept that the neko was truly pregnant.

I definitely wished I'd been there to see it, as watching the Moyashi break the rabbit's nose was one of my favorite memories of the neko. But given how stressed Allen was over the whole thing, I was kind of glad I wasn't there. I may have missed seeing it firsthand, but I got to hear about it from Allen's perspective, which meant that I got to hear what he was thinking and feeling when it happened, and I very much enjoyed that. It was fun listening to him pout about getting lectured by Bookman.

At least until he moved from pouting to freaking out.

The Moyashi was very upset that he'd hurt one of his friends, and he was worried that he'd do it again. I couldn't help laughing at that. "Relax, Moyashi. Everyone knows what happened. They're just as scared of getting hurt by you as you are of hurting them. No one is going to try to touch you without your permission ever again."

He laughed too, but I could tell that he didn't really believe me. So I did exactly what I just told him no one was going to do: I touched his belly without his permission. Though, technically, we were engaged, which meant that I did have permission, but that was splitting hairs.

Allen caught my hand while it was a few inches away, and the look on his face was full of panic. "Don't! Don't touch my belly! I don't want to hurt you like I did Lavi!"

"I touch your belly all the time and you haven't hurt me yet."

The Moyashi clasped my hand tighter when I tried to pull it away. "I don't want to take any chances. You don't heal as quickly as you used to, and for all we know, this could be a recent development."

I laughed at his worry and placed my hand on his belly anyway. After a moment of him staring blankly at my hand, he looked up at me with an adorably confused expression on his face. I laughed again and kissed his forehead. "See? You didn't hit me."

"But, why?" The Moyashi blinked as he placed his left hand on top of mine, and it didn't escape my notice that he was only touching my hand and not his belly; he apparently still wasn't ready for that.

"The hitting is an instinct that your inner cat has for protecting the baby, right?" I waited for him to nod before I continued. "Is the baby in any danger from me?"

"Given that you're the most dangerous man I know, yes."

The earnest expression on his face was priceless, but it irked me that he hadn't gotten what I was trying to say. I sighed and tweaked his ear with my free hand. "Is your baby in any danger from its biological father?"

"Oh." He pushed my hand away from his ear as understanding washed over his face. But then he blinked and the confusion was back. "So, wait, you're saying that I don't have the urge to hit you because you're the one who knocked me up? Shouldn't that be the reason why I _want_ to hit you?"

I snorted. "Maybe. But can you think of any other reason for why you didn't automatically claw my face off?"

He sighed and snuggled closer to my side. "Ok, I see your point. My inner cat recognizes you as safe because you're the baby's father and you want it more than I do."

"Moyashi-"

Knowing what I was going to say, Allen was quick to cut me off. "No. We're not discussing that tonight. Leave it alone and go to sleep."

Immediately following the words, he flicked off the lamp and rolled over. I was going to argue anyway, but Allen had fallen asleep the moment he'd closed his eyes.

.x.x.

I had mixed feelings about going to the headquarters of the Black Order on my own, but Cross was busy and Neah was insistent that I needed to see Allen as soon as I possibly could, so I had no choice but to go alone. I didn't put all that work into finding my son just to ignore him when he needed me.

Not that that did much to make me feel better about the situation. In our time apart, my son had grown into a fiercely independent young man, and it was weird that Allen would need my help.

I paused in the entryway to the cafeteria, and my eyes were immediately drawn to the head of messy white hair and the cat ears that stuck out of it. Allen was my son, and I loved him, but all I saw when I looked at him was that stupid curse I'd put on him. Even after all this time, that feeling of regret was hard to shake.

Through it all, I couldn't help noticing that he looked tired, and in a different way from the other exorcists at the table with him. He was less put together than I was used to seeing him, his vest was missing and his dress shirt was wrinkled and untucked, and that just made him look even more tired. It made me wonder if that was connected to whatever it was he needed my help with.

In a sharp contrast to how guilty I felt just looking at him, Allen's ears perked up when he saw me. His smile lit up his face, and then he said the word that never failed to amaze me, "Mum!"

I smiled at him in response, but before I'd made it two steps towards his table, my arms were suddenly full of neko as he wrapped me in a hug. Allen's excitement over seeing me faded as he let go. "Is Cross-...? Did he-...?"

The reaction almost made me laugh. He had no trouble accepting me as his mother, but he couldn't even finish a sentence if it was about his father. "I came alone. Cross couldn't leave his mission."

Allen visibly relaxed and that time I did laugh. I expected him to lead me over to the table where his friends were so that he could finish eating, but instead he just stood there smiling awkwardly at me. I was a little disappointed, so I decided to brush that aside and get straight to the point. "Now, what is it that you need me for?"

The way he stiffened at the question put me on edge. "Not here. Let's go somewhere private."

I followed him to a small lounge that I would later learn was part of his bedroom. Allen gestured for me to take the armchair and he sat on the couch nearby. I wanted to say something, but the stiff way he held himself and the way he absently fiddled with his tail told me it was best to wait for him to break the tension.

He smiled nervously at me then grimaced as he averted his gaze. "I need you to tell me about the curse you put on me."

"Robin-" I froze briefly when I said his birth name. I hadn't meant to say it; it just sort of slipped out in my shock. "... sorry. Allen, I-"

The neko smiled as he cut me off. "You don't have to do that, Mum. I've told you before: if you want to call me by the name you gave me, go for it. I really don't mind."

"I know, but Allen is the name you go by. It's the name I want to use." I smirked lightly at him. "Like how I'm never going to get you to stop calling me Mum."

"You're my mother. What else would I call you?" He laughed, but then it faded to a heavy sigh as he brought the conversation back on topic. "I know it's awkward to talk about, but could you give me more details about the curse you put on me?"

I was at a loss for how to respond to the question. I didn't want to talk about that curse, and it was clear Allen didn't really want to hear about it; he was obviously searching for something specific, but unless I knew what it was he was fishing for, I wouldn't be able to accurately answer the question. "Honestly, I think the only thing I haven't told you yet is that I thought you were a girl when I cursed you, but I don't think that would have changed my spell at all..."

I trailed off when I realized that Allen wasn't listening anymore. His silver eyes were wide and he was staring blankly into the distance. It weirded me out a little, especially when he addressed me without losing that lost in thought look. "So then, if you thought I was a girl, does that mean that your spell was meant to turn me into a _female_ cat?"

"I hadn't thought about it like that, but it's definitely possible." It was a weird question. I didn't understand why gender mattered in this situation. "Allen. What's going on?"

The neko sighed heavily and threw himself over so that he was lying on the couch instead of sitting. He buried his face in his hands and groaned, but he spoke before I could question the action. "I'm pregnant."

That was a very weird joke for him to be making right now. "You do realize that you're male, right?"

Allen just groaned again. "Not since you cursed me."

I was on edge once again; he clearly wasn't joking. "What does that mean?"

"When I became a neko, I gained all the organs necessary for bearing children. Which means that my ability to get pregnant has something to do with the curse you put on me. And you mistaking me for a girl would definitely explain what that something is."

The calmly spoken words made my blood run cold. "So you're saying that this is my fault."

Allen immediately sat up and stared at me, his silver eyes wide with shock. "No, Mum. Never. You may have cast the spell that started all this, but it is _not_ your fault. There were a whole lot of other factors that went into this, and you couldn't have anticipated any of them." He smirked, but it was forced. "Personally, I blame Komui; he did a whole lot of tests on me back when we were trying to figure out how to change me back, and he knew all along that I could get pregnant, but he never told me about it."

I stared critically at him. He truly believed that he was pregnant, and the fact that he was heavier around the middle than he was the last time I saw him definitely supported that idea. But there was something about his behavior that was gnawing at me. "So you're..."

He nodded when I couldn't get the question out, quickly supplying the answers he thought I was seeking. "I'm twelve weeks along. The baby inherited my neko traits. And I-"

While the details were nice to hear, I hurried to cut him off before the misunderstanding got any worse. "No, I meant: you're keeping the baby? You clearly don't want it."

Allen laughed mirthlessly and buried his face in his hands again. When he spoke, he wasn't speaking to me. "Of course you figured that out. I've got everyone else convinced that I want my baby and that I can't wait to be a mother, but five minutes with you and you've already seen right through me." The faraway look disappeared and he smiled gently at me. "You're right. I don't want it."

"Then why are you keeping it?"

He just laughed at the question. "Mum. You kept me. You'd been disowned by your parents, my father was nowhere to be found, and you had next to no resources, but you still kept me. If you could do it with no means for a child you loved, then I have no choice but to do it too. I may not know how I feel about my child yet, but my baby's father has asked me to marry him and I'm living in a place where all of my needs are being taken care of. I have to do this."

The sentiment was sweet, but it was clearly a lie. "And by that you mean that you weren't given a choice."

Allen made a face at me, and for a brief moment, he was three years old and pouting because I wouldn't buy him candy. But then he sighed and the moment passed. "Like I said, the baby's a neko. I have to keep it."

I echoed his sigh, the strangeness and the seriousness of the conversation were starting to weigh on me. "You know, none of this would be happening if you would have let me undo my spell."

"Mum..." Allen sighed heavily, and then, without any warning, he was sitting in my lap and his arms were around my neck. "You can't think about it like that, Mum. I know that that curse bothers you, but I wish you could see it the way I do..."

He grew silent, but before I could think of anything to say, he started talking again. "I spent my entire life believing that I'd been thrown away, that my parents didn't want me because I was deformed. I hated my reflection, and that only got worse after Mana died and I got this scar on my face. And then, when Neah started to wake up inside me, I could see his shadow in my reflection, which was yet another reason for me to avoid mirrors."

He took my hand and held it to his ear, smiling serenely at me the entire time. "When you first cursed me, and I became a neko, I gave up on my reflection completely. The cat ears were the final straw, and I couldn't take any more. But that all changed when I learned who you were. These ears aren't a sign that I'm horrible and cursed, they're a sign that my mother loves me; she didn't throw me out because I was a freak, I was taken from her and she never stopped looking for me."

Allen let go of my hand and returned to hugging me. "I know all you see is the curse you placed on me in a moment of anger, but to me, these cat ears are tangible proof that I'm loved, and I could never give them up."

I was in tears by the time he was done. It hurt to hear that my precious little boy used to think so poorly of himself, and it hurt in a different kind of way that he thought so highly of me. And above everything else, it felt so wonderful to hear that our reunion was as important to him as it was to me; he wasn't a little boy anymore, but he still needed his mother.

We sat like that for a little while, but then Allen pulled away and returned to the couch, smirking at me the whole time. "And now that that's out of the way, feel free to lecture me on how you're too young to be a grandmother."

The abrupt subject change made me blink. And when what he'd said finally clicked, I had a different reaction than what he was probably expecting. "Oh god, I'm going to be a grandmother."

Allen snorted. "Yes, Mum, that is how it works when your kid has a baby."

I laughed at his patronizing tone; if he was going to tease me then I was going to tease back. "I gave up on having grandchildren when I learned you were gay. Speaking of which, are you still on the same boyfriend, or have you moved to a new one?"

The neko's smile vanished, turning abruptly into a scowl. "The same one. And he's supporting me and the baby, so you better not be thinking of doing anything to him."


	19. Chapter 19

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! Since you all seemed to like Allen's mother, here's some more with her. ;)

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

The first thing I saw when I walked into the Moyashi's bedroom was a head of blue streaked brunette hair that had become quite familiar in the past several months. Seeing that woman there put me on edge: I definitely had mixed feelings towards her. On the one hand, Natasha was my Moyashi's mother; she clearly loved him as much as he loved her, and I knew that he would want me to be nice to her. But on the other, it was hard to give up the anger I felt towards the witch whose careless curse had forever changed the life of the man I loved. I simultaneously wanted to kill her and accept her as my future mother-in-law.

I was glad she was there though. After all, calling her had been my idea. One look at the Moyashi was all I needed to see that I had been right, talking to her had been good for him; he looked more relaxed than he'd been in months. It was frustrating that it had taken her two months to get here, but given that she was traveling with Cross, and he had once disappeared for four years, that was clearly his fault.

Allen popped up when I came in, smiling brightly as he gave me a hug. "Welcome home, Yuu."

I returned the hug and kissed the top of his head. "Thank you."

Natasha cleared her throat, and I looked over to find her scowling fiercely at me. I wasn't surprised by her reaction; if she knew that the Moyashi was pregnant then he had undoubtedly told her that the baby was mine. But even though I understood her reasoning, I wasn't going to just accept her newfound dislike of me, and I met her scowl.

Allen sighed heavily and rolled his eyes at us. "Knock it off, you two. There's no need to be like that. Can't you just get along?"

I almost laughed at the words; they were something Lenalee used to say a lot whenever she was annoyed with the fighting between me and Allen, and it was funny to hear _him_ say them to me now.

Natasha spoke to him without breaking her scowl. "He got you pregnant, Allen."

Unsurprisingly, Allen turned sarcastic towards his mother with that comment; when his mood swings got set off, they either made him cry or they brought out his dark side. He snorted and rolled his eyes. "He's also beaten the shit out of me and stabbed me through the stomach. I'd take knocked up over that every time."

The honesty in his words surprised me. I'd known for a long time now that his acceptance towards his pregnancy was because of his feelings for me, but I had no idea that he didn't regret getting pregnant. It meant quite a lot to me that he would pick his current condition over living without me.

It was also the closest he'd ever come to admitting to having some kind of affection towards the baby.

But there wasn't time to dwell on that. Natasha had clearly not been told that portion of our history before, and it definitely upset her. "He what?!"

Allen sighed as he moved back to the couch. "To be fair, he was fighting with someone else and I was trying to stop the fight. It wasn't like he just walked up and stabbed me out of the blue. And-"

His explanation cut off without warning, but the way he cocked his head to the side and his cat ears twitched indicated that he was listening to something that we couldn't hear. The action was almost immediately followed by a knocking at the door. The Moyashi made a face at me and whispered one word. "Hide."

I rolled my eyes and ducked into the nursery, blending into the shadows where I wouldn't be noticed. Hiding was annoying, but it was only a few months at most before I wouldn't have to do it anymore. Though given that the Moyashi's visitor turned out to be the Baka Usagi, this was a time where I was perfectly ok with staying hidden.

Lavi didn't stay long. He was bored and looking for someone to hang out with, but when he saw that Natasha was there, he opted to leave Allen alone.

I came out of the nursery to find Allen leaning his forehead against the door and looking incredibly annoyed. Natasha was sitting calmly in her chair, staring critically at both of us. "Mind explaining what that was all about?"

The question was directed at Allen, but I chose to answer it. "The Moyashi's not ready to tell the others that we're together. He makes me hide so that they won't ask questions. It's the same reason why he won't wear his engagement ring."

Natasha frowned at me. "And I suppose you think that knowing that you proposed to him after getting him pregnant is supposed to make me like you."

Her words made Allen sigh in frustration. "Don't be like that, Mum. He bought the ring before we learned I was pregnant. It was always his intention to marry me."

The neko's attempt to calm her only made her scowl harder at me. "So he says, but if really wanted to marry you, he wouldn't hide like that."

I wanted to argue with her, but Allen beat me to it. "Again, he's the one who wants to tell everyone. If the decision were his alone, we'd have announced our engagement and my pregnancy the day it happened. He hides because he's respecting my wishes. And believe me, if you weren't here, he'd have complained about it."

.x.x.

My mother stayed for a couple days, and we talked a lot about my condition and pregnancy in general, but then she had to go back to helping Cross with his mission. I was both sad and relieved to see her go; I liked having her support, but I didn't want to become too reliant on her. Before she left, she asked me if I wanted her to tell Cross about my pregnancy. I was torn - I didn't want him to know, but I definitely liked the idea of not having to tell him myself. In the end, I decided to leave the decision to tell him up to her.

Aside from her visit, not much happened that month. My morning sickness wore off around the time I reached the end of my first trimester, but only a little. Instead of being woken at four and then again at eight, I was only being woken at eight. My energy levels had improved now that I was able to sleep through the night, but I knew that that wasn't going to last: it was only a matter of time before the baby got big enough that it would be interfering with my sleep again.

Lavi's face had mostly healed, but the doctors said that my scratches were going to leave permanent scars. Bookman joked that it would be a reminder for the redhead to think before he acted, but even after Lavi's apologies, I still felt bad about the whole thing. The worst part of it all was definitely the fact that, like Kanda, when my mother had seen Lavi with his face bandaged, she took to lecturing me about how it meant that I secretly wanted my baby, and it was both annoying and creepy having her and Kanda gang up on me like that.

My friends came and went on their missions. One of them was still at headquarters at all times, but now that everyone else knew about my pregnancy, they had eased up on the babysitting. Not that that made much of a difference, as there were plenty of people around to pick up on the nagging.

Everyone seemed to handle the news of my pregnancy well. If anyone was bothered by it, I didn't see it; the teasing I received was all good-natured and light-hearted. Emilia laughed hysterically at me when she figured out that I had asked her to teach me to read because I was pregnant. My friends at the Asian Branch all continued to welcome me warmly whenever I got the chance to go visit them. And my friends in the science division may not have gone back to treating me like usual, but they had at least stopped treating me like I was an invalid, which they'd been doing since I was benched.

The exorcists were a different story. They all had what Camilla called 'baby fever'. Every single one of them was thrilled that I was going to have a baby, and as such, they were always chatting excitedly about it, with Lenalee and Krory being the worst offenders. Even Marie and Miranda, who hadn't been at headquarters in weeks, were in on it; I was constantly receiving little packages of toys and baby clothes from them on their travels.

It was a peaceful and uneventful time. But then the end of July came.

I was eating dinner in the cafeteria when Timothy returned home from his latest mission. As was the routine ever since I became a neko, the blue haired boy headed straight for me and wrapped me in a hug. I would usually have to humor him and let him pet my ears, but this time he didn't even try. Instead, he was grinning and jumping up and down when he let go of me. I was immediately put on edge by his excitement, and I was right to be concerned. "Wow, Allen! Your belly's gotten so big! There's really a baby in there!"

That was a subject that I was definitely not comfortable with. I was seventeen weeks pregnant and looked it. I had put on quite a bit of weight now that I wasn't throwing up everything I ate. Logically, I knew that the weight gain was good for the baby, and I wasn't vain, but it still made me uncomfortable. I was hiding it as best I could - I was currently wearing one of Kanda's shirts - and having attention called to it like that was beyond embarrassing.

As expected, following Timothy's outburst, the subject at the table changed. Lenalee was sitting next to me, and she immediately grabbed my shirt and pulled it so that it was stretched taut across my front, exposing the curve of my stomach. I pushed her away, but not before everyone got a good look at my bump. "Hey!"

If she heard my protest, she didn't acknowledge it; she was too busy babbling with the others about how adorable my baby bump was. And I knew exactly what was coming next; after all, Kanda and I had been having that same argument for several days.

"Why aren't you wearing maternity clothes?"

I frowned at Lenalee's question and poked angrily at the food on my plate. "Don't want to."

"But wouldn't you be more comfortable if you did?" I wasn't looking, so I didn't catch who spoke, but I could hear enough to tell that it wasn't one of my friends. This conversation had attracted the attention of the others in the room.

"My clothes fit fine."

It was almost expected that my stubborn response made the one person who had been staying out of the conversation join it. "When was the last time you buttoned your pants, Moyashi?"

I glared at Kanda for the question. He knew perfectly well that my pants were currently held closed with one of his spare hair ties. "Shut up, Bakanda."

The chattering around me grew more intense after they learned that I was lying and my clothes truly didn't fit. I tried to ignore them and concentrate on my food, but they just continued to grow more obnoxious. And then, without any warning, I found myself dragged from the cafeteria.

.x.x.

Walking through the halls of headquarters, Reever heard an unusually loud commotion from the storage area. Thinking that the psychotic supervisor was up to something, he rushed to investigate before anything bad could happen. He relaxed when he opened the door to find a crowd of scientists and finders, relieved that Komui was nowhere in sight. That relief died however when he realized that this room was the clothing storage room and those people had absolutely no business being there.

He found Lenalee on the edge of the excited crowd. The Chinese woman looked incredibly annoyed and she was shouting at the group, but her voice was lost in the hubbub. Reever quickly pulled her out into the hall so that he could hear her. Realizing that he would be able to help, Lenalee hurried to explain what had happened to him. "We came down to look for maternity clothes for Allen. But everyone went crazy and when they tried to put him in a dress, he locked himself in the closet. I've been trying to get them to calm down and leave him alone, but they won't listen to me."

Reever frowned at the thought of the pregnant neko being forced to hide, knowing that it was only a matter of time before the others succeeded at getting into the closet. "I'll take care of this. You go get Johnny; without his help, we're never going to be able to get Allen calmed down."

Lenalee nodded and took off down the hall. Reever watched her go for a moment while he collected his thoughts and came up with a plan for rescuing Allen. Returning to the room, Reever shouted over the crowd noise with practiced ease. The scientists in the mix immediately ran back to their work at the sound of his voice, knowing that the science section chief actually would carry out the threat of overtime without pay if they disobeyed him. Noticing the missing scientists, the others fled too. The strength in numbers was gone now and no one wanted to be the last person left in the room with the angry Australian.

Alone in the storage room, Reever carefully approached the closet where Allen was hiding, knowing that the cornered neko would lash out if he didn't approach him properly. He knocked cautiously on the door. "Allen? It's Reever. I'm alone. Everyone else is gone. It's safe for you to come out."

"Are you sure?"

The anxiety in Allen's voice told Reever that he wasn't just hiding to protect himself; he was hiding so that he wouldn't hurt anyone. "Yes, I'm sure. Open the door and see for yourself."

Allen allowed Reever to coax him out of hiding, but he immediately hid again when the door to the room opened and someone came in. Reever sighed heavily as the closet door slammed shut. "It's just Lenalee and Johnny. There's no need to be like that."

Lenalee sprang into action and finished coaxing Allen out of the closet. When that was done, Reever returned to his work while Lenalee went to stand guard outside the door, leaving Allen alone with Johnny.

The neko allowed the scientist-slash-tailor to take his measurements and fit him with maternity clothes. He wanted to refuse and leave, but after what had happened earlier, he knew that this was his one chance to do this without an audience. Johnny chattered while he worked, calming the neko further by reminding him that they were friends and teasing him about wearing his boyfriend's clothing.

Through the magic that only Johnny could work with fabric and a needle, Allen left the storeroom in clothes that not only fit his pregnant body, but were comfortable and not embarrassing in any way. The whole episode made the neko feel stupid for not going to Johnny back when he first noticed that his pants were getting tight; after everything they'd been through together, he should have known that the scientist would be that kind and understanding.


	20. Chapter 20

A/N: You guys are awesome! Thanks for reviewing! And now it's time for a lemon... ;)

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

After he'd been dragged away in the middle of dinner, the Moyashi just disappeared. That wasn't particularly surprising; I knew he had escaped from the crazy perverts who were just trying to see his bare stomach, and he was probably off pouting somewhere over the incident. So I snuck into his room to wait for him; there was always the chance that he'd be too upset over what happened to let me stay the night, and I didn't want to give him the chance.

There apparently wasn't anything to worry about; the Moyashi was all smiles when he returned around bedtime. He was carrying a large box that I hoped was lighter than it looked, as he should not have been exerting himself like that with how pregnant he was.

He greeted me with a nod and I put down my book, but before I could take the box from him, the neko had moved into the bedroom and was dumping its contents onto the bed. I followed him into the room to find him folding clothes and putting them away in his dresser. They were garments I hadn't seen before, and based on the fact that he wasn't wearing what he'd been wearing at dinner, he'd picked up some new clothes. "Looks like you had a successful day."

Allen snorted but otherwise ignored me, so I lounged on the bed and watched him work. The pants he was wearing fit him better than his old ones, which was disappointing as it meant that his ass was no longer on display in the too-tight pants. But on the other hand, the way his new shirt was fitted meant that the curve of his pregnant belly was very easy to see, so I still had something gorgeous to stare at.

As the Moyashi put away the last pair of pants, squatting down and giving me a great view of his body, he finally spoke. "I was worried that I was going to get so big that you wouldn't find me attractive anymore, but from the way you've been ogling me tonight, that's clearly not going to be a problem."

I laughed in response; the words may have seemed serious, but I could tell that he was teasing me. "If you're going to complain about my staring, you shouldn't do things like that while I'm around. Putting on a show like that... it's like you're asking me to jump you."

"Why would I do that?" His facial expression was perfectly innocent as he pretended to be clueless, but the way his body moved as he climbed onto the bed said differently. The Moyashi was definitely trying to instigate sex.

But he never touched me. He crawled sultrily to the headboard and then leaned against his pillows, sitting on his own side of the bed. And that's when he grabbed the lotion from his nightstand. He held the bottle between his knees as he pulled off his shirt and tossed it aside.

His new pants were higher waisted than his old ones were, and they stretched around his belly, hiding the majority of it from view. He still looked great topless though, and I was already plotting how I was going to play with him tonight.

Ignoring my staring, the neko continued to play his game. He unzipped his trousers and adjusted the fabric so that it was no longer covering his stomach. Then he poured a dab of lotion into his hand and began rubbing the cream into the pale ivory skin of his belly.

The lotion was designed to prevent stretch marks and keep his scars from bothering him; it was great for him, but for me it was by far the most agonizing part of his evening routine. I wanted to rub that lotion on him so badly, but he wouldn't let me do it for him. I understood that it was because his pregnancy made him more easily aroused, and we couldn't have sex every night, but it was still frustrating. Especially since the Moyashi knew full well that his lotion routine turned me on and he liked to tease me with it.

Tonight was a different story though. After just a few rubs, the neko twitched his ears in feigned annoyance and sighed heavily. "I'm too tired to do this. You'll have to finish for me."

I was kneeling over him in a flash. Before he could change his mind or say that he was just messing with me, I took the bottle from him and set about rubbing the lotion into his belly. The second my hands made contact with his skin, the Moyashi started moaning. The sound was music to my ears, but I ignored it in favor of concentrating on the task at hand. My fiancé occasionally let me touch his bare belly, but it was nothing like this. The taut skin of his swollen belly felt wonderful beneath my fingers, and knowing that he was in this condition because he was carrying our child just made the whole situation more erotic.

I took my time, massaging lotion into the entire surface of his belly. My fingers caressed every beautiful mark and imperfection in his skin. I felt the soreness and tension in his muscles, and I did my best to loosen them up, while inwardly reveling at getting to touch him in that way. From there, I focused on his scars, enjoying the way his moans hitched whenever I moved to a new one. And when I reached the scar from where I'd stabbed him, he had suddenly had enough of my ministrations. "Ok, ok! That's enough! You can stop now!"

I ignored his protest, continuing to teasingly rub my fingers along that scar. I expected him to try to stop me, but instead, he let out a choked moan and came. As his body shuddered under my fingers, I looked up in surprise to find his head tossed back in pleasure. His white hair was splayed wildly against his pillows, his cat ears twitched randomly, and his beautiful silver eyes were glazed as they stared unseeingly at the ceiling. He apparently wasn't exaggerating at all when he said that all I had to do to set him off was touch him.

Allen was breathing heavily when he came down from his high, and the first thing he did was glare at me. I just rolled my eyes at his reaction, knowing from the expression on his face that he was planning to yell at me as soon as he'd recovered enough to talk. "Che. If you would have just told me that you were close, I would have stopped."

He pouted as he took the lotion from me and returned it to its place on the nightstand. "Fine. I see your point. But either way, you still should have stopped when I asked you to."

I moved so that I was lying on my side, letting the Moyashi out from underneath me. My gut reaction was to argue with him, but my erection decided that it was better to wait and see how mad he was first. Allen climbed off the bed and removed his pants, letting me see just how soaked with his release his boxers had become. They too were quickly removed, and then the Moyashi was back on the bed, lying in front of me in all his pregnant glory. He smirked devilishly at me, but he didn't start chewing me out like I expected him to; instead, he got playful. "It seems to me that one of us has too much clothing on..."

Without giving me a chance to respond, he threw himself at me, locking our lips together as his hands fumbled with my belt, dangerously close to my erection. I immediately kicked off my boots, and then I pulled the Moyashi's hands away. He let me move them, but the second I let go, the hands were in my hair, massaging my scalp as they searched for my hair tie. I scoffed into the kiss, but I left the neko alone in favor of removing my uncomfortably tight pants.

By now, it was second nature to take off my clothes without breaking a kiss with Allen, and it wasn't long at all before I was just as naked as he was. The Moyashi snuggled closer to me as soon as I got my clothes off, and we just lay there, making out and trying to get our bodies as close together as possible. While I teased the base of his tail with one hand, I dug the fingers of the other into his ass, appreciating the way the flesh had filled out in the last few weeks. I loved his normal, well-toned body, but there was something about the softness his pregnancy had caused that made the neko especially delectable.

When I had had enough of Allen's fingers clawing at my back and his hips grinding against mine, I rolled us over so that he was lying on top of me. The Moyashi whimpered when I broke the kiss, but as I slid out from under him, his body automatically shifted into the kneeling position that was the most comfortable for what was coming next.

I moved to kneel behind him, and as I sucked on my fingers to lubricate them, I admired the way he presented his ass to me. It was a sight I would never tire of seeing; there was very little that I loved as much as having my Moyashi's body underneath my own.

But I was snapped from my thoughts when the neko began grumbling. "Hurry up, Bakanda!"

The Moyashi's impatience made me laugh, and the way he wiggled his hips just made his rear end look even sexier. "I'm just admiring the view, Moyashi. You've got such a fantastic ass."

He snorted in frustration and even though I couldn't see it, I knew he was making a face at me. "No, I have a _fat_ ass. A fat, lazy ass that's-"

His complaining cut off with a sharp grunt as I shoved a finger inside his hole. _Good. That worked._ Not only did the action shut him up, but it also satisfied the urge I got to hurt him whenever he degraded himself.

Preparing the Moyashi had gotten a lot harder lately as I actually had to make sure that he was completely and properly stretched. It was the one downside to sex while he was pregnant. I couldn't risk hurting him when I entered him. It was difficult, especially since if I took too long, _he_ got impatient.

I worked my fingers inside of his hole, stretching his opening as gently as I could. I knew that he thought he was ready when he began moving his hips; he was trying to get more friction from my fingers. But I just kept working. After ten months together, I had had enough practice to know when he truly was ready, and I knew that it wasn't when he thought it was.

The Moyashi let out a noise that was a cross between a whine and a moan of anticipation when I pulled my fingers out of him. I grabbed his hips for leverage, lined my tip up with his hole, and pushed my length inside of him as tenderly as I could. That tight heat felt spectacular on my shaft, and it took a good chunk of my self-control to keep myself from pounding into the neko with reckless abandon.

I kept a tight grip on his hips as I waited for him to tell me he was ready, and once he did, I pulled most of the way out of him. I adjusted my angle, aiming for his prostate, and thrust back into him. I hit my target on the first try, causing the neko to let out that most delicious sound of his: a cross between a moan and a meow.

I repeated the action over and over again, picking up speed with each thrust. The Moyashi continued to make tantalizing cat noises that drove me insane, and the way he bucked his hips with my thrusts just made the whole thing more pleasurable. As he cried for me to take him harder, his tail rubbed against my thigh, and I couldn't tell if he was teasing me on purpose or if the action was just a reaction to the pleasure he felt.

As I neared my end, I let my left hand drift from his hip to his belly, where I began caressing the first scar I found. Allen's breathing hitched as I teased the sensitive spot, and it wasn't long at all before he was moaning that he was close. "Oh, god! Yuu! I-!"

The Moyashi cried out as he came, the muscles of his passage spasming around my length. The increased pressure on my shaft pushed me over the edge and I released deep inside him, filling his already fertile body with my seed.

It took a lot of effort, but I kept myself from collapsing on top of the neko - I was not going to risk hurting our unborn baby. Instead, I pulled out of him and moved us so that we were lying on our sides. I held the Moyashi close to me, absently rubbing his belly as I reveled in the bliss that came from making him mine.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

A/N #2: See you in three weeks for the next chapter. I'll be taking Thanksgiving off from posting.


	21. Chapter 21

A/N: It's time for some plot!

Warning: this chapter contains character death. We'll be flashing back to Allen's mission from chapter 4.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

The headquarters of the Black Order was abuzz with celebration. Two of its exorcists had just returned from such a successful mission that everyone felt the need to party. The cafeteria was overflowing with joyous laughter and raucous merrymaking as everyone celebrated the first real victory the Order had had in months.

While out on a routine Innocence collection, Camilla and Krory had run across the Noah twins, Jasdero and Devitto. Normally the Noah would have retreated before the fight got too intense, as they had been doing all too often lately, but the twins still held quite a grudge against the vampire for defeating them on the ark, so they chose to stay and settle the score. Unfortunately for them, Camilla's ability to control plants was exactly the kind of backup Krory needed to be able to defeat them for good, and now there were two less Noah in the world.

Allen was doing his best to avoid the celebrations, but he had to eat, which meant that he had to go down to the cafeteria. The neko had mixed emotions towards the defeat of the twins that stretched far beyond his feelings towards the death of another human. The whole thing just served to fuel his dislike towards his pregnancy, making him feel more trapped than he'd ever felt before. It had been nearly fourteen weeks since he'd been on a mission, since he'd contributed to the war effort in any way, and that just made him feel like a good-for-nothing leech. It was a description that he had always associated with Cross, which in turn made him feel even worse - he was turning into his father. The thought that he wasn't even halfway through his pregnancy just made him more miserable.

But he was good at faking it, and only Kanda and Camilla noticed the neko's melancholy mood. And they did what they could to help. While Camilla didn't particularly like all the attention she was getting, as she felt that she had only supported Krory during the fight, she played the glory hound, knowing that if everyone was focused on her, they'd leave Allen alone. Kanda's support came in a more silent style, showering his Moyashi with kisses and other small signs of affection whenever they would go unnoticed by the others.

But despite their efforts to keep the partiers away from Allen, the pregnant neko still ended up being the center of attention.

It all started when a finder, who was too drunk to stand up properly, began to try to count how many members of the Noah family had been defeated and how many were left. His poor math skills led to others trying to set him straight, which led to a whole lot of confusion on the matter. No one could decide whether there were four or five Noah dead, and every time they tried to recount, they got a different number. And that's when they decided to involve Allen.

The same drunk finder who started it all approached the table where the neko was sitting with the other exorcists, spilling his drink in the process. "Hey Allen! Do us a favor! We need to know how many Noah are dead! Be a dear and talk to that Noah of yours and get a count for us!"

Allen frowned at the drunken and insensitive request, but before he could comment on it, a tipsy Lavi had thrown an arm around his shoulders and was jumping to his defense. "Hey! Don't talk to the Moyashi-Chan like that! You can't make him talk to the Fourteenth just to satisfy your morbid curiosity!"

The two went back and forth for a while before Allen had finally had enough. He sighed heavily and gently pushed the redhead off of his shoulder. "There's no need for that, you know. I know exactly what the count is without having to talk to anyone."

His softly spoken words killed all conversation in the area. He sighed heavily and started listing out the defeated Noah; he didn't want to be involved, but it was far quicker to cooperate and get this over with. "Well, we can start with Neah; he's on our side so for this that counts as being defeated. Then there are the twins that Krory and Camilla got on their latest mission. That makes three. The one Kanda killed during that whole fiasco on the ark makes four. Road would be five, and the shapeshifter makes six, so that means there are eight Noah left."

Everyone had been following along with his list, but by the time he reached the end, they were all confused. It was Lenalee who spoke the questions they were all thinking. "'The shapeshifter'? You mean the one that infiltrated headquarters and nearly killed us all? When did she die?"

Allen shrugged and began to absently pick at the food on his plate. "Technically, she's not dead, she's just no longer a Noah."

He didn't have to say any more for the others to know that he was talking about his sword and its powers of exorcism, but that just made them even more confused. Not a single one of them had heard that Allen had defeated Lulubell.

Realizing that he had a lack of knowledge on the subject made the Bookman apprentice instantly sober. Lavi adjusted his bandana and threw his arm over the neko's shoulders once more. "Wait wait wait. You exorcised the shapeshifter? When? Why didn't you say anything?"

Allen was frowning at the table, his hair falling in his face and obscuring the tears in his eyes. Just thinking about that mission was horribly painful for him; there was no way he'd actually be able to answer questions about it.

Kanda may not have seen his Moyashi's tears, but he could sense them. And when he compared this reaction with the one he had previously witnessed, there was really only one mission that could be bothering the neko like that. "This was the mission where that kid died, wasn't it?"

Allen's nod of affirmation distracted the others from the fact that Kanda knew something that he shouldn't, and while that was good for their relationship, it wasn't what was best for the neko in this situation. That simple nod may have been enough explanation for the others, but Kanda knew that the Moyashi needed to actually tell the story if he was going to properly recover. So he pushed Allen's buttons in the way that only he could. "Che. You're such a whiny little girl, Moyashi. Crying over some brat you only knew for a couple days. How pathetic can you get?"

Not realizing that he was being intentionally goaded into reacting, as his pregnancy hormones were fueling the grief he felt, Allen hissed at the samurai. "His name was Nolan, Bakanda! And yes, it was _that_ mission. I killed the Noah who killed the kid I was protecting. She shattered his Innocence, so I exorcised her Noah."

.x.x.

~April: Dublin, Ireland~

We were escorting Nolan to the ark gate when it happened. I sensed the akuma coming and was able to warn the finders in just enough time to get a barrier set up before they arrived. I wanted to keep Nolan at my side, but because he was still unable to activate his Innocence, I knew that he would be safer in the barrier, so I left him with the finders.

I launched myself at the akuma as they arrived, giving my focus completely to the fight and the thought of saving all those souls. They never stopped coming, and I never stopped fighting.

And then the worst happened.

Everything froze as I watched the barrier that was protecting Nolan and the finders collapse. And that's when I saw the Noah; I kicked myself for being distracted by the akuma and not noticing that she was there. Lulubell was in her Noah form, which meant that I could easily recognize her as the shapeshifter who had attacked headquarters, and that only made me more pissed.

I tried to fight my way over to Nolan, but there were just so many akuma that I couldn't get there. As I fought my way through the endless horde, I caught glimpses of the finders sacrificing themselves to protect Nolan. My heart broke as I watched people I considered friends and comrades die, and something I had been struggling to understand for months finally clicked into place.

Ever since I started dating Kanda, I had been learning that he was actually a very kind and caring person underneath his cold exterior. I never understood why he hid his heart and acted so calloused towards everyone. But as my own heart broke, I finally understood that that was his way of protecting himself. He pushed the finders away so that he wouldn't grow attached to them and wouldn't get hurt by their loss. The realization didn't suddenly make me like that he did that, but I felt like I understood him better now.

All this passed through my head in less than a second, and as much as I wanted to focus on what I'd discovered about my boyfriend, there were more urgent things to focus on right now.

I had been tearing my way through akuma after akuma, but when the last finder fell, I was still too far away to help Nolan. I screamed at him to run away, but he couldn't hear me over the sounds of the battle.

Time seemed to stop as Lulubell grabbed Nolan by the wrist. She pulled him close to her as he screamed and tried to escape, but she was too strong for him to hope of overpowering her. And that's when the worst happened.

Lulubell grasped the green cross in Nolan's right arm. There was a bright flash of green light, followed by dust particles blowing away as the limb crumbled and Nolan collapsed to the ground. I may have been far away, but I still caught the way the life faded from his eyes. He was dead.

I felt a painful snap in my heart as Crowned Clown reacted to Nolan's Innocence being shattered. Ever since my left arm had reformed, I had been able to sense when other Innocence fragments were destroyed by the Noah. It was either because my Innocence was the Heart or because my Innocence literally was my heart; either way, I knew better than to tell anyone about it. Not even Komui knew that I had that ability, and I told the Supervisor everything that concerned my Innocence; this was my burden to bear alone.

The pain of my Innocence's grief was nothing compared to the pain of seeing that little boy who I had loved so dearly lying lifeless on the ground.

I'm not entirely sure how, or even what exactly happened, but my grief and shock and anger over Nolan's death sparked a reaction out of Crowned Clown. There was a chain reaction of explosions and less than ten seconds later, all of the akuma were gone. I was standing alone on the battlefield, with absolutely nothing between me and Lulubell. I drew my sword and threw myself at the Noah who had killed someone so precious to me.

The fight was a blur of sword strikes and whip cracks. I was so focused on winning that the next thing I was aware of was the end of the fight. Lulubell howled as I ran her through with my sword, pinning her to the wall. I threw every last drop of energy I had into the exorcising power of my sword. Even with as angry and as grief-stricken as I was, I still could not take a human life, so I forced all of my power into making _this_ exorcism work.

And it did.

Lulubell fell limply off my sword, her body changing from its shifted shape to its Noah form and then to that of a fair skinned blonde woman. As I watched her collapse, I felt the Noah soul within her fade to nothing. For once, I was glad of that side effect that came from being Neah's host. Unlike with Tyki, I could confidently say that the unconscious woman lying on the ground in front of me was completely human.

I was victorious, but it didn't feel that way. Turning my attention away from what was once the Noah of lust, I hurried over to where the remains of the barrier were. Finding what I was looking for almost immediately, I held Nolan's dead body in my arms and cried.

.x.x.

The silence that followed the Moyashi's story was painfully awkward. And for the first time in a long time, I was thankful for Lavi and his overly upbeat personality. The redhead not only filled the silence, but he got everyone to return to their partying and leave Allen alone. It wasn't long at all before the celebration was back in full swing and our little circle of friends was all that was left at the table.

They tried to comfort Allen, and he let them talk, keeping his hands and mouth busy with finishing his meal. I don't know if what they were saying was getting through to him or if it was just annoying him, but either way, he excused himself when his food was gone, and the others let him leave. I waited an appropriate amount of time, and then I followed after him.

He was easy to catch up with, he wasn't expecting to be followed, and we walked back to his room in silence. The second the door closed behind us, I pulled him into a hug, loving the way it felt to have my neko in my arms. He sighed heavily, the sound full of frustration, but he didn't pull away from me. "Why do you have to be such a jerk?"

I laughed lightly at the whining as I continued to hold him close. "Sorry I pushed you, Moyashi, but you needed to talk about it."

His annoyed frown melted into a pout that was absolutely adorable. "I guess so, but did you have to be so mean about it?"

"You're the one who wants to keep our relationship a secret, Allen. I was doing it the way _you_ wanted me to." I leaned down and kissed his forehead. "If you want me to be nice to you in public, we're going to have to start telling people that I'm the father of your baby."


	22. Chapter 22

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I'm glad you liked that last chapter.

It's not telling _everyone_ , but it is time for someone to find out about Allen and Kanda...

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

It probably wasn't that surprising, but after our latest victory, the war seemed to pick up the pace. Now that we had killed off two more of their ranks, the Earl and the Noah were plotting something new. But unless I was actually out on a mission, none of that mattered to me. My priority was the pregnant neko residing at headquarters.

At five months pregnant, Allen didn't need a babysitter anymore, but ever since this whole thing started, my brother had become almost as overprotective of the neko as he was of me, so that wasn't going to stop anytime soon. As such, I continued to spend the majority of my time at headquarters, looking after Allen. I really didn't mind though. This was as close as I was going to get to being pregnant myself, and I was living vicariously through the neko.

On the other hand, when I wasn't actually with Allen, I had next to nothing to do. I spent a lot of my time training, and that only went so far to relieve the boredom.

But on days like today, when Kanda stayed home from his daily mission, Allen made himself scarce. And since training was all there was for me to do, I headed down to the training hall.

I froze in the doorway, catching sight of something I clearly wasn't meant to see. Kanda was sitting in his usual meditation spot, while Allen stood in front of him. I couldn't hear their conversation, but from their expressions and body language, it was not one of their usual arguments. Allen was smiling at the samurai and Kanda actually seemed to be enjoying the neko's presence. It was so weird and unexpected that I couldn't make myself move.

And then, without any warning, Kanda reached out his hand and placed it on the neko's pregnant belly. I braced for Allen to hit Kanda like he had hit Lavi, but he did no such thing. They continued to talk quietly for a moment more before Allen excused himself and left.

Forgetting all about why I'd gone down to the training room in the first place, I beat a swift retreat back to my bedroom. I needed to be alone to process what I'd seen. And there was only one conclusion that my mixed up brain could concoct to explain the situation: Kanda was the father of Allen's baby.

All of the little things I'd seen over the last few months but didn't register finally clicked into place. Less than twenty four hours after he'd found out about his pregnancy, Allen had told me that he'd already talked with the baby's father, which I didn't realize at the time meant that the father was at headquarters. And throughout that entire conversation, the neko had acted like he was mad that I knew he was pregnant and he clearly wasn't ready to tell anyone about it; yet, according to Kanda, Allen had already told him everything by that point. And while it was possible that I was seeing a connection that wasn't there, it was _Kanda_ who had first asked my brother about Allen being gay. That wasn't just a rare moment of concern for Allen; it was also him trying to protect himself.

And all of Kanda's odd behavior over the past three months: the way he had acted when Allen got sick, the fact that the samurai actually was cooperating with my brother's stupid babysitting plan, his skipped missions - he even knew that Allen had grown out of his clothes before the rest of us did! It was all weird behavior for the samurai, but the simple fact that he was the father of the neko's baby explained it all perfectly.

But on the other hand, that possibility was completely disturbing. For Kanda to be the father of Allen's baby, the two of them had to have had sex.

While I'd known for a long time now that Allen was gay, and Kanda was undeniably one of the most attractive men I had ever met, they were Allen and Kanda. They hated each other's guts. For the two of them to have done _that_ together, something must have broken in their brains. That or they were drunk.

Actually, that made perfect sense. People do stupid things when alcohol is involved. Allen and Kanda had simply gotten drunk enough to sleep together, and Allen had gotten pregnant from their one night stand.

But didn't Allen once tell me that his baby's father wanted it? And I could not for the life of me picture Kanda wanting a baby. He may have the kind of pride and honor that would force him to stay with someone he'd impregnated, but wanting the baby went far beyond that, and I just couldn't see him loving a child. Especially one that was half Allen.

I was getting nowhere thinking about this. All I was doing was giving myself a headache. If I wanted answers, I would have to try to get them from Allen. I wasn't going to miraculously come up with them on my own and Kanda certainly wasn't going to give them to me.

.x.x.

I opened the door to Allen's room quietly. He was lying on the couch, one hand holding a book, the other resting on his baby bump. This looked like a good time to interrupt him, but then again, maybe it wasn't. Before I could lose my nerve and leave, his ears twitched towards me and he looked up. "Hey, Lenalee. What's up?"

"Hey." There was no backing out now. Closing the door, I moved to the chair beside him. I steeled myself and looked into his eyes. "I want to know what's going on in that head of yours."

He blinked cluelessly at me. "What do you mean?"

"I know that Kanda's the father of your baby." It was best to just say it and get it out in the open.

Allen sighed and put down his book. "Ask your questions."

I was almost stunned speechless; I had expected him to deny it, but he didn't even try. "How did something like that even happen? I mean, I know there was alcohol involved, because there's no way the two of you would have done _that_ sober, but just how drunk did you have to get Kanda to convince him to sleep with you?"

From the look on his face, that wasn't a question he was expecting. His silver eyes were wide as he blinked at me. "There was absolutely no alcohol involved. We were both stone cold sober. And for the record, I didn't have to convince him to do anything. He's the one who instigated it."

My first thought was that he was lying, but the lack of twitching in his ears told me he wasn't. That spawned a whole new series of questions that I really didn't want to know the answers to, so I decided to ignore it and move on. "How are you ok with that? You had a one night stand with a guy you hate and now you're carrying his baby? How are you not freaking out? Shouldn't you hate him even more than you used to?"

"Lena! Calm down!" I blinked and fell silent, not realizing that I had gotten so agitated that I was shouting until he called me on it.

It felt like forever before Allen spoke again, but when he did, he was smiling softly and staring off into the distance. "I've been in love with Kanda since I met him. Knowing that the baby's his is the only reason I'm _not_ completely freaking out about all this." His gaze hardened as he looked at me. "And it definitely wasn't a one night stand that got us into this mess. We'd been together for six months before I got pregnant."

"Six months?!" Allen had also just used the word love to describe his feelings. And I had thought I couldn't get any more shocked. "How could you not tell me?! Don't you trust me?!"

It wasn't until he visibly flinched that I realized what I'd just said. "Sorry, that came out wrong. You obviously trust me or you wouldn't be talking to me right now. But why all the secrecy? You had no problem telling me that you're gay, so why couldn't you tell me you found someone?"

He sighed and looked away, embarrassment written all over his face. "I didn't think you'd approve of that someone being _Kanda_. There was a time when we couldn't go a day without trying to kill each other."

I had to admit that he was right. If he had come to me and told me that he had slept with Kanda, I would have laughed in his face. "So how _did_ it happen?"

"Are you talking about the night I got pregnant or the night we first had sex?" His face went from blank to smirking as my jaw dropped. Allen had clearly worded it that way on purpose to get a reaction out of me.

"Maybe I don't really want to know the answer to that."

He laughed lightly. "I was just teasing you, Lena. I'm not going to go into that kind of detail." He began scratching one of his cat ears. "It was the day _this_ happened. Cross had known all along that we liked each other. Before he left that day, he told Kanda my feelings and convinced him to confess."

I could only stare stupidly at him over that revelation. "And Kanda actually listened to him?!"

Allen smiled a very happy and genuine smile. "He did. He told me he loved me right after I woke up as a neko."

I nodded a few times, processing what he'd said. I had never once imagined that 'I love you's had been exchanged. Needing a change of subject, I scrambled for a new question. "So ... who else knows?"

He began listing off names, counting along on his fingers. "Cross, obviously. My mother, but you knew that, you're the one who outed me to her." I frowned in embarrassment at the remark, but Allen just continued to talk. "Neah, but then we shared a body for a while there. And Neah told Johnny back when we were on the run together. Marie and Miranda walked in on us in bed once. Bak and Fou both know. As does Camilla, but she was Kanda's apprentice, so it was inevitable that she'd find out. And I think Link might know, but I don't want to ask him. The same goes for Bookman. I've tried to tell your brother, but he won't give up that stupid rape theory."

Yeah, that sounded like Komui. "How does Kanda feel about all this? I can't imagine him actually wanting to be a father."

The neko gave me a weird look, clearly debating how to tell me whatever it was he was thinking. "Kanda proposed when I told him I was pregnant."

That was even more improbable than everything else I'd heard. I felt my eyes bug out of my head. "What?!"

Allen laughed as he pulled a chain out from under his shirt. "He even had a ring."

I gaped at the silver band as it dangled on its chain. Needing a closer look, I leaned in and took it from him, feeling even more shocked to find that it wasn't a figment of my imagination. "Kanda asked you to marry him?"

He nodded solemnly as he took the ring back. He fiddled with it for a moment before slipping it back under his shirt with a heavy sigh. "You asked me once what my plans for my baby are... It really all depends on how much trouble I'm in for being gay. I'm either going to be allowed to keep my baby and continue with my life like normal - in which case Kanda and I will get married and raise the baby together - or I'll be executed after I give birth. And if that's the case, Kanda's promised me that he'll take the baby and leave this place."

His logic was sound, but there was something horribly wrong with it. It took a second to figure out, but I quickly realized that what was bothering me was the fact that Allen had given up. He had no intention of fighting for his life or his child. And that didn't make any sense. The Allen I had known and loved for the past three years was a fighter; even when the odds were horribly against him, he fought for the things he was passionate about.

 _Wait. That's exactly it, isn't it?_ Allen wasn't fighting for his baby because he wasn't passionate about it. Everything he'd said in the last few months about loving his unborn baby was a lie. Allen didn't want his child.

I stared at the neko lounging casually on the couch, praying I was wrong about what I'd just deduced. I tried to be gentle with my question, but it came out angry and accusing. "You don't want the baby, do you?"

"I don't." Once again, his honesty surprised me. Not only did he not deny my suspicions, he had actually confirmed them. "I've tried to love it, but the truth is that I feel nothing for this baby beyond a selfish desire to keep it alive."

Not knowing what to say to Allen in response to that, I hurried to take my leave. If I stayed with the neko, I was going to end up crying over him and his baby, and neither of us needed that. "Thank you for being honest with me, Allen. I'll let you get back to your book now."


	23. Chapter 23

A/N: After reading your reviews, I believe you guys are _very_ ready for what happens in this chapter... ;)

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

After taking a moment to collect my thoughts and feelings, I decided that what I needed to do next was get Allen to change his mind about his baby. And I was pretty sure that I knew exactly how to do that.

The first step was probably mean, but what was going to hurt Allen now was going to help him in the long run, so I felt justified in doing this.

Kanda was easy to track down. After all, since I knew that he wasn't with Allen, there was really only one place at headquarters that he would be: practicing with his sword in the training room. I entered quietly and sat down, choosing to watch him for a moment before I interrupted.

I had known Kanda for the longest of any of the other exorcists. He was like a brother to me, but those feelings were a little mixed up now. If what Allen had said earlier was true, Kanda and I had been competing for the affections of the same man, and he had won. There was definitely a little resentment towards the samurai for being the one Allen loved instead of me.

"Did you need something, Lenalee?"

I almost jumped when Kanda spoke, startling me out of my thoughts. I collected myself quickly, carefully choosing my words so that they'd have the desired effect without giving away what I knew; Kanda would become uncooperative once he knew that I knew he was going to be a father. "Ah, no. Not really. I just wanted to meditate for a bit. I just came from talking with Allen, and we had a rather depressing conversation. It's such a shame that he doesn't want his baby. I needed to come clear my head after all that."

Kanda rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath about girls being weird. Maybe it really wasn't that hard to believe that he was gay.

He left me alone and went back to his training while I pretended to meditate. I knew my plan had worked when, as soon as he thought I was no longer paying attention to him, Kanda left without finishing his workout.

I left after that, having accomplished what I came for. If this had worked, Kanda was headed directly to Allen's room, and hopefully he could talk some sense into the neko. Meanwhile, I headed down to my brother's office for step two of my plan.

Komui perked up when I walked into the room. He smiled brightly at me and asked the same question he always asked. "Ah, my darling Lenalee! Have you brought your brother some coffee?"

"Sorry, Nii-san. I didn't bring any coffee." I smiled when his face fell, but I quickly sobered up when I remembered why I had come down here. "I wanted to talk to you about Allen. He doesn't want his baby, and I thought there was something we could do to help him."

Komui just looked confused by my suggestion. "He's carrying his rapist's child. He shouldn't want the baby."

"Allen's gay, Komui. The baby is his boyfriend's." Despite my annoyance with my brother, the words were hard to say. It was just so weird to think of Allen and Kanda as a couple.

It was clear from the look on Komui's face that he didn't believe what I was telling him. I was going to have to come at this from a different direction. "Nii-san, if Allen were straight, you would have gone crazy on him by now."

I had hoped that that would be enough to prove my point, but Komui just blinked at me, clearly needing more details. I sighed heavily and said something I hoped wouldn't make the situation worse. "I have, on more than one occasion, literally begged him to go out with me. And he has always, always, refused my advances."

He seemed to understand with that, and while I waited for him to collect his thoughts, I prayed that his crazy side wouldn't go off on Allen for rejecting me. Komui sighed and sat heavily back in his chair. "So every time he has insisted that he wasn't raped, he actually meant it? He wasn't just trying to avoid attention?"

I gave him a meaningful look and he collected himself, bringing the conversation back to the original topic. "Right. So, Allen doesn't want his baby. And you think there's something I can do about it. Did you have something in mind or are you fishing for ideas?"

"Oh, I have something very specific in mind. The real question is: how quickly you can pull it off?"

.x.x.

I don't know what the Moyashi was thinking. Telling Lenalee that he didn't want his baby was just plain stupid. Who knew what crazy thing she was going to do about it.

I stalked up to the neko's room, where I found him reading a book on the couch. He smiled brightly when I came in and put his book aside. "Hey, Yuu! What are you doing here? I thought you still had more training to do."

The cheerfulness in his voice made me frown. "So. I just had a very strange conversation with Lenalee."

Allen groaned before I could get another word out. He buried his face in his hands and practically screamed in frustration. "Oh my god. She tattled on me."

"'Tattled'?" His choice of words confused me greatly, but he wasn't in the position to clarify. However, as I watched him vent his frustration, it suddenly clicked. "Oh... Lenalee knows we're together."

His grumbling turned into a muffled shriek as he nodded at me. "She figured it out earlier today."

That explained his reaction; we'd been together for nearly a year and had a baby on the way, but he still wasn't ready to tell anyone about our relationship. But what was bad news for him was good news for me. It was about time that Lenalee knew; she was at headquarters way too much and I was getting tired of sneaking around her.

I shook my head as I sat down beside Allen. "What possessed you to tell her that you don't want the baby? I thought you were content with lying about it."

He sighed and leaned over so that his head was lying in my lap, and out of habit, I began rubbing his ear. "I didn't tell her, she figured it out. After that, it just didn't seem right to keep lying to her."

I chose to keep silent. I focused on massaging his ear and trying to get him to relax, but the Moyashi was just too tense and he began to ramble. He started with complaining about Lenalee finding out, but then he moved on to the baby and his pregnancy, venting all his dislike for the situation. It surprised me; he'd been doing so much better lately. I couldn't help questioning him about it. "I thought you were warming up to the baby."

The Moyashi sighed heavily and shook his head. "I might have been... once... But ever since it started kicking, I've felt nothing but dislike for it. Not even reminding myself that it's yours makes me care about it. It's just a thing growing inside my body, keeping me from doing what I want, and not letting me eat my favorite foods."

It was disappointing to hear that the progress he'd made was gone, but what he said next made me feel even worse. He pulled my hand from his ear and placed it on his belly, looking up at me with nothing but honesty in his silver eyes. "You still love it, right? I may not want it, but I still want this baby to have a parent that loves it. So promise me that you won't let my feelings sway yours."

"Moyashi. Allen. I-"

I was spared from having to respond to the incredibly disturbing situation by a tapping at the door. Lenalee came in without waiting to be invited, and I could tell from the look on her face that she was trying not to squeal at us. She failed, but her voice was at least at a normal volume when she did so. "Oh my god! You guys are so cute like that!"

I glared at her, but before I could say anything, Allen had pushed himself up into a seated position and was scowling at her. "Did you need something, Lenalee?"

She shook her head to snap herself out of it, and then she smiled sweetly at the neko. "My brother sent me to get you. He needs you to come down to the infirmary."

The Moyashi made an adorable pouting face. "But I just had an exam yesterday! What could he possibly want now?"

"I don't know. I was just sent to get you." Lenalee shrugged nonchalantly, and while her tone was innocent, she was nowhere near as good a liar as the Moyashi was. She knew exactly what it was that Komui wanted with Allen.

The neko continued to frown, but we both knew that this was an argument he wouldn't win, so he pushed himself off the couch and headed towards the door. Lenalee held the door open for him, but instead of closing it behind them, she turned back to me. "Oh, Kanda..." The sickly sweet tone of her voice almost made me gag. "You're going to want to come too..."

Allen and I shared a confused look, but when I turned that look on Lenalee, the Chinese woman just rolled her eyes at me. "Don't make me blackmail you into this."

.x.x.

And so the three young exorcists trekked down to the infirmary together. Komui immediately questioned Kanda's presence, but when his little sister explained that she had asked the samurai to join them, he dropped the issue.

Allen was ordered to sit on the bed and expose his belly. He grumbled, but he did what was asked of him. He still had no clue what Komui was up to, but he knew that the quickest way to find out was to cooperate.

While the neko removed his shirt and opened his pants, Komui wheeled over a weird looking machine that Allen prayed wasn't one of the Supervisor's sentient robots. The machine was placed beside the bed, and then adjusted to where the screen was visible to everyone in the room. Allen cringed at the nearness of the weird contraption. "What is that?"

Komui smiled as he flipped the machine on and it whirred to life. "It's an ultrasound machine. It's going to tell us what your baby looks like."

The explanation just confused the neko, but it didn't sound dangerous, so he didn't protest as Komui finished setting it up and started the exam, even if the gel that was squirted onto his exposed belly was incredibly cold.

"There we go... two arms... two legs... cat ears and a tail..." Komui spoke as he adjusted the display on the monitor. When it was as clear as it could get, he turned his attention back to Allen. "And there's your daughter."

The white haired teen blinked stupidly at the screen in front of him, not believing what his eyes were seeing. "That's a baby."

Komui laughed lightly at the neko's statement of the obvious. "It's not just a baby, it's your baby. That's what the baby inside you looks like right now."

The neko frowned at the Supervisor. "But how is that possible? How can I be seeing-?"

He cut off with a squeak when the baby on the screen suddenly moved. The abrupt action coincided with the baby moving inside his belly, and he found that to be really weird. But as he watched, the screen baby continued to move in the exact same way as the baby inside him. He truly was seeing what was going on inside his belly.

But Allen had one major problem with that: the image on the screen was of a baby, and the thing inside of him was just a thing.

He stared blankly at the screen, not hearing Komui as the Supervisor continued to talk. While the scientist explained that his baby was healthy and growing properly, Allen was trying to process the fact that the beautiful, tiny little child on the screen in front of him was actually inside him. The thing that had been making his life hell for the last five months - causing him to be sick all the time and making him fat - that thing and the precious little girl that he was currently staring at, they were one and the same.

When Allen reconciled those two things in his mind, he burst into tears. As he finally fell in love with his unborn baby, he was filled with regret for the way he'd been acting towards her, and the feelings were so overwhelming that he couldn't hold them in.

The sudden reaction startled Komui, but Lenalee and Kanda shared a look. The silent conversation they held passed in a matter of seconds. Kanda's eyes accused her of doing this on purpose, and her smug smile said that she had. But they both agreed that the outcome was worth it. Allen now loved his child.


	24. Chapter 24

A/N: Thanks for the reviews!

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

While Lenalee and Kanda understood what was going on in Allen's head, Komui had reached a different conclusion as to why the neko was so upset. The Supervisor sighed and began turning off the ultrasound machine so that he would have something to do with his hands while Allen's hormone fueled crying fit reached its end.

As he set aside the last pieces, the Supervisor finally broke his silence. He sighed heavily and placed what was meant to be a comforting hand on Allen's knee. "I'm sorry. I know you didn't want to hear that you passed your curse on to your child. And I know we've been assuming that the baby's a neko thus far in order to prepare you for this, but it still must be hard to hear."

Expecting a fresh outburst of tears, it came as a surprise to Komui when Allen just shook his head and shrugged off the comment. "Bak likes to do his own tests on me whenever I go over to the Asian Branch. He confirmed that the baby's a neko several months ago."

The Supervisor could only blink stupidly at the white haired teen; he wanted to be angry over the fact that tests were being done on the pregnant neko without his knowledge, but he was too stunned by the fact that Allen seemed to have willingly complied with the tests to express that anger. "Oh. Ok then."

Komui excused himself after that, and the others all knew that he was headed to his office to have a chat with the chief of the Asian Branch.

The moment the three exorcists were alone, Kanda sat down beside his Moyashi and pulled the neko into a hug. Feeling safe and comfortable in his lover's arms, Allen let his tears fall once more. "I'm so sorry, Yuu. I-"

"Che." The annoyed scoff was followed by a gentle kiss to the neko's white hair. Then the samurai moved his hands, sliding one up to rub Allen's ear while the other was placed on the boy's pregnant belly. "You don't have to apologize, Baka Moyashi. We've been over this before. I'm not upset with you, and neither is our daughter. You love her now, and that's all that matters."

Allen buried his face in his lover's chest, and the pair stayed that way until his tears dried up. The neko was still full of regret for the way he'd been acting towards his child, but he knew that Kanda was right and that regret was not a helpful emotion, so he allowed the elder to calm him down.

When the Moyashi's tears faded, Kanda placed his fingers under the neko's chin and guided the boy into looking at him. Then he captured his lover's lips in a fierce kiss. The samurai's hands rubbed circles on Allen's belly, and as the neko deepened their kiss, his hands joined his fiancé's, loving how much better that bulge felt now that he loved the child inside it.

The kiss was interrupted by someone clearing their throat. Startled, Allen and Kanda broke apart, looking up to find that Lenalee was still in the room with them. The Chinese woman was frowning disapprovingly at them, but it morphed into a smirk when she finally spoke. "I realize that you're both happy over finding out that you're having a girl, but I don't need to see you make out."

Knowing she was teasing them, and that it would make the Moyashi blush, Kanda responded to the demand by pulling Allen in for another kiss. The neko was bright red when he managed to escape from the samurai. He turned an embarrassed smile on Lenalee, but she just laughed at him. Moving to the chair beside the bed, she sat down and placed her hands on top of theirs. "Seriously, I hope you two are as happy together as you look."

While the words made Allen smile in embarrassment, Kanda just scoffed at the comment and rolled his eyes. The samurai's reaction almost made Lenalee laugh; even knowing that she knew about their relationship, Kanda still wasn't going to share his feelings out loud. Focusing her attention on Allen, she pulled his right hand off his belly and clasped it tightly in hers. "I hope this means that you're going to start fighting for your baby. If you start up with that execution crap again, I'm going to have to knock some sense into you again, and I don't want to have to do that."

Allen smiled reassuringly at Lenalee; he knew exactly which part of their earlier conversation she was referring to, and he was eager to put her mind at ease. "You don't have to worry, I'm much better now. Anyone who tries to take this baby from me is going to be in a world of- Wait. 'Again'? What do you mean again?"

As the neko turned a curious gaze on his friend, he caught a glimpse of the ultrasound machine across the room, and everything suddenly made sense. "Oh. You're the reason why Komui suddenly wanted to do that ultrasound thing on me. You put him up to it."

The Chinese woman nodded once. "I did. I hoped that actually seeing your baby would help you realize how precious she is. I'm glad that it worked."

The neko's tears started fresh once again. He pulled his hand away from hers and began caressing his pregnant belly. "Thank you. Thank you so much. How can I ever pay you back for this? I-"

Lenalee cut off his babbling with a gentle kiss to the top of his head. "Don't worry about it, Allen. I was happy to help. You've already been through so much in your life. You deserve to love your baby. You're getting a family, and you deserve to enjoy it."

.x.x.

I followed Allen to our room when he left the infirmary. He seemed pretty messed up, and even though I knew it was a good kind of messed up, I wanted to make sure that he was ok before I left him alone.

To my complete surprise, the first thing he did when he entered the room was walk over to the doorway of the nursery. Not only had the Moyashi not been in that room since he'd fainted there three months earlier, he'd been ignoring it and pretending it didn't exist. But he didn't stop in the doorway. He went inside.

Speechless, I watched as he fiddled with the toys from Marie that I had placed on the dresser. While I watched and wondered what was going through his head, the neko picked up a stuffed cat and sat down in the rocking chair. He sat there for a moment, just staring off into space and clutching the toy to his chest, before he finally collected himself.

"It's kind of sad, isn't it?" The words didn't make any sense, but the Moyashi wasn't silent for long before he answered his own question. "We're having a baby in four months, and we're nowhere near ready for her. Her room's not furnished. We have no clothes or blankets or diapers for her."

I leaned against the door frame as I listened to him ramble on. It was soothing listening to him talk about the baby's needs for a change. For the first time since we'd learned he was pregnant, he was talking about our baby like he wanted it. So even though his ramblings were annoying and full of worries over stupid and pointless things, I actually didn't mind listening. It just felt so good to hear him love our baby.

Our daughter.

I hadn't cared either way about the baby's gender, so I was just relieved to know which it was. While part of me wanted a boy that I could teach to fight, if there was one thing that I'd learned from all my years around Lenalee, it was that girls were just as capable of kicking ass as boys were. I could teach a daughter all of those things that I would have taught a son, and I was perfectly fine with that.

When he finally calmed down, the Moyashi turned to me with a large and genuine smile on his face. The words that came out of his mouth were unexpected; I knew he was finally accepting of the situation, but I hadn't realized that he had already adjusted to it that well. "So, Yuu, what are we going to name our daughter?"

.x.x.

A week had passed and I still could not get over finding out that Allen was having a girl. The mental image of him and Kanda raising a daughter together was so precious that it was killing my focus for everything else. Fortunately, the other exorcists were just as bad as I was when it came to fawning over the fact that Allen's unborn child was a girl, so unless Kanda was willing to hurt all of us, I was safe from his anger.

I was sitting with Lavi at lunch, debating the pros and cons of various names for Allen's little girl. Knowing the neko, it wasn't going to occur to him that the baby needed a name until he was holding her in his arms, and I was not going to let that happen. I was going to arm myself with several names, so that I could help him long before it got to that.

The sound of Allen loudly clearing his throat brought our conversation to an abrupt halt. He had just sat down with us and he did not look happy. I smiled at him and invited him into the conversation, not realizing that that was what was pissing him off. "Hey, Allen! We were just discussing possible names for your baby. Care to weigh in?"

The neko scowled at both me and Lavi before he turned his attention to his plates of food. "No."

Lavi was not satisfied with that answer. "Come on, Bean Sprout. Your daughter needs a name. We're just trying to help. What do you think of Cynthia?"

The suggestion just made Allen's scowl deepen. "Guys, knock it off. We've already named her."

That surprised me at first, but despite how weird it seemed, Kanda actually was excited to be having a baby; he had probably picked a name and Allen had agreed to it just to get him to shut up. I wasn't particularly thrilled with that, and Allen would definitely be getting an earful later, but I was happy to know that the pair were truly thinking about the future.

But while I was content to let the subject drop, Lavi just got more excited. "What is it?! Come on, Allen! You can tell us! I wanna know-!" He cut himself off abruptly and fixed Allen with a very serious stare. "Wait. Who's 'we'? I thought you were doing this alone."

Allen rolled his eyes at the redhead. "'We' is myself and the baby's father, baka."

"I don't understand. You let the man who raped you name your baby?" Lavi was definitely a little green when he said those words.

I shared a look with Allen and I knew from his wide-eyed expression that neither of us had known that the redhead was part of the group that believed Allen had been raped. The neko sighed deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose, his cat ears twitching with exasperation. "I'm getting really tired of saying this: I was _**not**_ raped. The sex that got me like this was completely consensual."

"No, no. That can't have been consensual." Lavi looked beyond disturbed. "There's no way you would have _let_ another man shove his dick into your asshole."

I felt my face turn bright red. The mental image that statement conjured was too much. I had been mostly ok with the idea that Allen and Kanda had had sex, but I hadn't known what exactly that entailed. The mental image of Allen letting Kanda do _that_ to him was something I would never be able to unsee.

The boys clearly couldn't see my face, as they continued to talk. Allen shrugged nonchalantly at Lavi's comment. "I enjoy it. And it's only fair. I stick mine in his after all."

That was definitely taking things too far. I had to say something before I was scarred further. "Al-len! I did _not_ need to know that!"

The neko immediately blushed and smiled sheepishly at me. "Oops. Sorry, Lena."

While Allen realized that there were women present and that this was not an acceptable topic of conversation, Lavi was not about to drop the subject. He ignored my protests and fixed the neko with a deadpan stare. "You mean to tell me that there is a man, here at headquarters, who you let fuck you in the ass whenever he wants?"

"Of course not!" Allen seemed to be as appalled by that question as I was, but while I was expecting him to try to change the subject, he carried on with it. "I've never refused his sexual advances, but that doesn't mean he always gets to top me. We take turns being dominant."

The relieved look on Lavi's face faded in a heartbeat when Allen clarified his declaration. He stared blankly at the neko, clearly trying to figure out a way to respond to what Allen had just told him. After a few moments, he gave up and changed the subject. "We've gotten off topic. What's your daughter's name?"

Allen snorted and rolled his eyes at the redhead. "I'm not going to tell you. The last thing I want is to hear a story about some romantic tryst that you had with a girl with my daughter's name. And that's exactly what you're going to do if I tell you. So I'm going to keep it to myself until she's born. I'm not going to have you or anyone else ruin this for me."

"But-!"

"I said no, Lavi. End of discussion." Allen punctuated the words by stabbing his fork into his plate of roasted chicken.

And the neko stuck with his declaration. He ignored every single one of Lavi's pleas, threats, and bribes as he ate, and when he was finished with his meal, he left the cafeteria before the redhead could come up with a new way to pester him.


	25. Chapter 25

A/N: To clarify what happened at the end of the last chapter: Lavi is not disgusted by homosexuality, he's disgusted with anal sex. He only thought Allen was raped because he didn't believe Allen (or any man for that matter) would willingly submit to being taken anally. Anyway, now that Allen has set him straight, he won't be making that mistake again.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

Fortunately for my sanity, Lavi left on a mission the very next day after the whole baby name incident. I was free from the pestering he would have done, and with his short attention span, he was going to have forgotten all about his curiosity towards my daughter's name by the time he got back. It was fantastic timing, and I wanted to feel good about it.

But I couldn't enjoy Lavi's absence when his mission partner was my fiancé.

Kanda hadn't been on a single mission since we'd learned that we were having a girl, completely ignoring his general's duties, and I had grown quite used to having him around. I missed him terribly. And not just because my pregnancy was making me horny. I was in the second half of my pregnancy; I needed my fiancé to be where I knew he was safe. And that was at home with me.

I knew Kanda was perfectly capable of taking care of himself, but that didn't stop me from feeling concerned about him. Especially when his mission ran long. I knew there were thousands of legitimate reasons for why his five day mission had already taken twice that long, and that most of those reasons weren't life threatening, but that didn't stop me from feeling lonely over his absence or worried over his health.

But his health wasn't my main concern. No, my priority was my own health. I'd been working hard to keep myself fit and healthy ever since I'd learned I was pregnant, but now that I actually wanted my child, it felt like those efforts weren't enough. I wanted to shower her with love and attention and give her everything she wanted.

Except when it came to food.

The fact that my morning sickness was finally completely gone helped a lot, but even wanting my daughter didn't change the fact that I hated the way being pregnant had changed my appetite. I wanted to be able to eat what I wanted, when I wanted. But above all, I wanted to eat my favorite food again. And I couldn't do that when just thinking about it made me want to throw up.

The cafeteria was depressing. But not nearly as depressing as the entirety of headquarters was today.

As I walked down to lunch, I passed several different finders and scientists running around like chickens with their heads cut off. While I was curious what the commotion was all about, I knew that it had something to do with one of the ongoing missions, so I did everything in my power to ignore them - a difficult task when my enhanced hearing meant that I could still hear them long after they'd run by me. I was already depressed over my absent fiancé, the last thing I needed was to depress myself further with worrying over whichever mission had gone wrong and wondering which of my friends was in trouble. I also didn't need the reminder that I wasn't allowed to leave the building.

I just had to push it all aside and get to the cafeteria; with any luck, it would be noisy enough there that I wouldn't have to work to block out whatever was happening. I'd be able to chat with my friends and ignore everything else that was going on around me.

I relaxed as I stepped through the cafeteria doors, the lively chatter in the room covered up the chaos outside rather nicely. After taking a moment to appreciate that, I made my way to the counter and talked with Jerry while he prepared my meal. I enjoyed listening to the chef gush over my baby so much more now that I loved her.

But as we were moving my plates to the table, I was forcibly reminded that somewhere out in the world, there was a mission going wrong.

The snap of pain in my heart was incredibly familiar, but it was so unexpected that it shocked me into dropping the plate I was holding. It hit the ground and shattered, splattering deep red sauce everywhere, and everyone's attention was immediately on me, obviously wondering what had happened to make _me_ waste food. But I didn't notice any of that.

The feeling of losing an Innocence fragment may have been familiar, but my body was currently under quite a bit of stress from my pregnancy, so it affected me a whole lot more than it usually did. I knew that I was in a public place and that I didn't want anyone to know about my ability to sense the destruction of the Innocence, but I was too overwhelmed to keep my reaction hidden.

Feeling like the wind had been knocked out of me, I struggled to breathe as I fought to remain standing. My pulse roared in my ears and I felt like I might black out. It certainly didn't help that my pain upset the baby, and she did not hesitate to let me know it. The kicks and punches she gave me as she thrashed about only served to make me feel worse.

I vaguely felt someone help me to my seat, and being in a seated position definitely helped with the intense disorientation that I was feeling. The hands on my shoulders moved to my front, and I knew from the flashes of purple hair that I could see and from the familiar way those fingers prodded at me that Komui was examining me.

Now that I was sitting, I managed to catch my breath, and my dizziness faded quickly once I was able to calm down. It was indeed Komui kneeling in front of me, and there was concern written all over his face as he examined me. I gently pushed his hands away and smiled reassuringly at him. "I'm fine. Nothing's wrong."

The Supervisor fixed me with a very stern look as he went back to poking at me. "Allen. You collapsed. That's not 'nothing'."

I stared stupidly at him. I thought I had kept myself upright, but apparently, I actually had blacked out and fallen. And while that scared me, the kicks to my stomach assured me that my baby had not been harmed by my fall.

I tried to push Komui away again, but he caught my arm and pressed his fingers to my wrist, taking my pulse. His stern look never faded as he did so. "I'm concerned about your heart. You were clutching at your chest when you fell, and I'm worried that your pregnancy might be putting too much stress on your previous injury. Have you been feeling any shortness of breath lately?"

I met his look with an equally firm glare. "Komui, I'm _fine_. There's nothing wrong with my heart or my baby."

The Supervisor looked like he was going to start lecturing me, but Lenalee spoke from beside me before he could. It startled me a little because I hadn't noticed that she was there. "You're crying, Allen."

I pulled my hand free from Komui's grip and brought my fingers to my cheek, which was streaked with tears. _Huh. I'm apparently rather bad at noticing things today._ I quickly wiped my eyes and shook my head at my friends' concern. "They're not my tears. They're Crowned Clown's. We just lost an Innocence fragment."

It wasn't until I noticed that the people around me were all looking at me like I was crazy that I realized what I'd just said. I blushed fiercely and looked away, praying that Komui would ignore my outburst and go back to examining me. He didn't. The Supervisor seemed to be at a loss for words as he stared critically at me; I could practically hear the gears spinning in his head as he tried to process what I had just told him.

Lenalee brushed a hand into my hair and began rubbing my ear. I knew she was doing it on purpose, to keep me from running away, but there was a reason why it worked: even though I was angry at her for doing it, I couldn't bring myself to make her stop, my inner cat liked the feeling too much. The baby liked it too, if the fact that she stopped squirming around inside me was anything to go by.

When she felt I'd calmed down enough, Lenalee did exactly what I thought she was going to do. She began asking me about what I'd said. "What do you mean 'we lost an Innocence fragment'? And how could you possibly know that?"

She had me cornered, so even though I wanted to keep this to myself, I knew that I had no choice but to explain. I sighed heavily and focused on Lenalee, ignoring all the others around us and pretending that I was only talking to my best friend. This was going to be hard to say and I needed to feel like I was talking to someone who would be understanding and supportive. "I don't know how to explain it without sounding crazy, but whenever one of the pieces of Innocence gets destroyed, it feels like a rubber band has snapped inside my heart. Crowned Clown reacts so violently to the loss that I feel physical pain. It usually isn't that bad of a reaction, but I'm usually in much better shape than I am right now."

The hand rubbing my ear froze. Lenalee's violet eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her head. When she finally managed to speak, her voice was full of confusion and concern. "'Usually'? This has happened before?"

I nodded slowly, seizing my chance to pull Lenalee's hand away from my ear. "Every single time we lose an Innocence fragment."

Komui spoke up then, but I continued to focus solely on Lenalee. "How long, exactly, has this been going on?"

"I don't know. A couple years." I didn't have to see Komui's face to know that he wasn't pleased with that answer. "Based on the fact that I first felt it sometime after everything that happened on the ark, it either started when I broke critical or it started when Crowned Clown healed my heart."

"And you're positive that what you feel is in response to the Innocence?" The female voice startled me. Camilla was sitting on the other side of Lenalee. My observational skills were definitely not at their best today. "Are you sure it's not something else? It seems a little far-fetched to me that you can sense the Innocence like that."

I met her stare with all the confidence I could muster in my tired state. "I'm not sensing the Innocence, Crowned Clown is and I'm just picking up on its grief. And yes, I'm positive that that's what I'm feeling."

My confidence didn't convince her and she continued to stare suspiciously at me. But before I could say anything more, Komui was claiming my attention. The look he gave me was rather unsettling; it was rare to see him _that_ serious. "Allen. Why are we just hearing about this now? You should have reported this the first time it happened."

I sighed heavily as I turned away from Komui. I glanced down at the plates of food that were spread out on the table and my stomach growled loudly at the reminder that I hadn't eaten anything yet. It was immediately followed by an irritated kick from the baby, and I knew that she was telling me to feed her. So I grabbed the nearest plate. It had grown cold, but I ate the food anyway; I needed to eat, and I needed something to do while I tried to collect my thoughts.

I could feel everyone's eyes on me, still waiting for me to answer Komui's question, but no one interrupted me. They all understood that between my Innocence and my pregnancy, I had no choice but to ignore them in favor of eating. A few of the gathered people laughed when someone voiced their surprise towards how long I'd let the conversation last before giving in to my need to eat.

When I'd eaten all my food, which didn't take anywhere near as long as I would have liked, I set my fork down with a heavy sigh, dropping my hands to my lap, where I began to rub circles onto my pregnant belly; the baby was very content now that she'd been fed.

Steeling myself, I finally broke the silence, praying that Komui would understand my reasons for keeping this to myself for so long. "Because it first happened when I was under investigation for the whole Neah thing. I wasn't going to give Central anything that they could possibly use against me, and I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that this was something they would use against me."

"How would they do that?" In retrospect, it made perfect sense that Camilla was confused. The things that I was talking about happened before she joined the Order. She hadn't had any interactions with Central.

"I can sense when Innocence is destroyed. As you have already pointed out, that's not something exorcists can normally do. Even though that ability comes from my Innocence, Central was going to say that it was a sign that I was awakening as a Noah, and then..." I couldn't bring myself to finish the sentence; things had worked out, but it was still hard to think about what had happened back then.

Komui placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. It was clear from the look on his face that he understood my reasoning and that I wasn't in trouble. "That was two years ago, Allen. Why didn't you come to me about this after Central left?"

"Because that was when I became a neko. There was so much other stuff going on that it fell through the cracks. I was going to-"

I was cut off abruptly by a commotion at the cafeteria entrance, as Reever and a couple other scientists ran in. "Chief Komui!"

Reever headed straight for where the Supervisor and I were sitting together. The look of panic on his face scared me rather badly. He wasn't looking for Komui to make him get back to work, he was looking for him to deliver bad news.

I expected Reever to pull Komui aside, but instead, he just blurted it out in front of everyone. "We lost the signals from Lavi and Kanda's golems."

The conversation continued around me, but I was too freaked out to hear anything they were saying. They had lost the signal from Kanda's golem. That meant that his golem had been destroyed. And when you combined that with the fact that we had just lost an Innocence fragment, it was especially bad news. There was no way that it was a coincidence that the two things were happening at the same time. My fiancé was in trouble.

I couldn't handle that thought after everything else that had happened and I blacked out.


	26. Chapter 26

A/N: Thanks for reviewing! Ready to find out what happens next?

To ZacckFairy: Probably not. I might revisit it later, but it's really only important for the current story arc.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

Lost in my own panic over hearing that we'd lost contact with Lavi and Kanda, I didn't even consider how much worse that news was for Allen. It wasn't until Camilla whispered, "Catch him," in my ear, that I even remembered that the neko was sitting next to me. But her barely audible warning was enough to snap me from my thoughts, and I managed to maneuver Allen's body as he fainted so that he fell onto my lap instead of the floor.

Despite the chaos around us, Allen passing out was not something that went unnoticed. Especially by my brother; Komui's overprotective streak towards the pregnant neko had only gotten stronger after I had convinced him that Allen wasn't raped.

While Komui's fingers sought out Allen's pulse, he turned to me for answers. "Did you see what happened?"

I shook my head. Lying to my brother was not something that I liked to do, but if I wanted Allen to continue to trust me, I was going to have to do it. I could not let Komui know that Allen was distraught over Kanda because that would lead to him asking _why,_ and that would lead to me telling him about their relationship, which was something I had sworn I would keep to myself. "He must be exhausted. He was already so stressed out over losing that Innocence fragment. Hearing that our friends might be in trouble can't have been good for him after all that."

Before anyone could argue with me, I got to my feet, gathering Allen in my arms in the process. Being as pregnant as he was, he was definitely heavier than he was the last time I'd carried him, but it was manageable. "I'm going to take him up to his room so that he can get some sleep."

No one tried to stop me, so my words must have been more convincing than they felt. Camilla followed me, but I knew that it was to help, so I didn't protest. She wouldn't be much help, given her allergy to the neko, but she was still better than having to do this alone.

We reached Allen's room without bumping into anyone, which was good, as I did not want to have to explain why I was carrying him or why he was unconscious. Camilla opened the door for me, and together we got Allen situated on the bed.

It was about then that I noticed that Camilla was acting really tense. It seemed like she wanted to leave, but at the same time, she didn't want to leave me alone with Allen. I was confused, but before I could call her on the odd behavior, I recalled that she knew about Allen and Kanda's relationship all along, and that upset me a little. So I decided to confront her on it. Sitting down on the foot of the bed, I stared seriously at her. "So. Three months ago. When Allen was sick and you picked the lock to get us in. Did you really pick the lock or did they trust you with a key because you know that they're together?"

"'They'?" Camilla's poker face was aggravatingly good. It definitely looked like she had no clue what I was talking about.

But I was not in the mood to be played with. "I know you know that Kanda's the father of Allen's baby."

She sighed and relaxed into a chair. "First of all, there's no need to be so defensive. It was their idea to keep that a secret, not mine. Second, I don't have a key either; I used Kanda's when I pretended to pick the lock. And third, when did they tell you?"

I shook my head. "I figured it out a couple weeks ago, after I saw Kanda touch Allen's belly without getting punched in the face."

We shared a laugh, and that caused all of my excitement over their relationship to come bubbling to the surface. "Isn't it great? Aren't they adorable together?"

Camilla made a face at my babbling, almost looking like she was going to throw up. "I found out by overhearing them having sex, so no. It's not adorable." She shuddered. "It might be a little cute, but 'adorable' is definitely the wrong word."

I stared at her for a moment before I giggled nervously. "Are they any good?"

While I flushed in embarrassment over having actually said those words out loud, Camilla just snorted. "Judging from the sounds Allen was making, I'm surprised it took as long as it did for him to get pregnant." She then quirked an eyebrow at me. "You seem to be taking this rather well. Aren't you upset over losing Allen?"

"I was at first, but Kanda's like a brother to me; we've been close for a long time. I didn't think he'd ever find someone to be with, so if it means he'll be happy, I'll gladly give up my feelings for Allen. Besides, they're going to have enough problems once their relationship gets out, they don't need me getting in their way."

.x.x.

After ordering Reever and the other scientists to do everything they could to find out what was happening with Kanda and Lavi, Komui headed down to the lower levels to speak with Hevlaska. The things Allen had said at lunch were really bothering him, and Hevlaska would hopefully have insight into what was really going on. Plus, if the neko was right and they truly had lost an Innocence fragment, speaking to Hevlaska was necessary.

She welcomed him when he arrived, but Komui skipped right over the pleasantries. "Did we lose a piece of the Innocence today?"

The abrupt question struck her as odd, but Hevlaska sensed the urgency in his voice so she didn't argue with him. Instead, she focused her senses on the Innocence around her. "We did. How did you know that before I did?"

Komui was tempted to swear in frustration; this whole situation would have been far less complicated if Allen had simply been delusional or confused. "Allen. He says that he can feel Crowned Clown crying whenever an Innocence fragment is destroyed."

Contrary to his expectations, Hevlaska was not at all bothered by what he'd just revealed. "That's not surprising. Allen is like me; he has bonded so deeply with his Innocence that he's no longer human."

While the description of Allen as 'no longer human' did not sit well with Komui, the fact that Hevlaska didn't even question the validity of the neko's new ability did a great deal for putting his mind at ease. "Is there any possibility that it's because he was the host of a Noah?"

That required absolutely no thought for Hevlaska to answer. "Not a chance. If Allen says it's because of Crowned Clown then it's because of Crowned Clown."

Seeing that her unwavering confidence wasn't enough for Komui, she explained further. "None of the Noah have ever exhibited that kind of ability before. Besides, you yourself said that he described the feeling as grief. A Noah definitely wouldn't feel like that towards the Innocence."

"You have a point there." Komui laughed and adjusted his glasses. "Do you know how something like this is possible?"

Hevlaska laughed. "Not without examining him."

Komui shook his head. "But you have. According to him, he's been like this since Crowned Clown formed."

"In that case, all I've got are theories. And I'm sure they're the same ones you're already thinking about." She sighed. "There's quite a lot to be said for the possibility that this is proof he has the Heart."

"You're right, that is what I was thinking. This new ability coupled with the fact that he's the first parasite-type to ever break critical, it makes a rather convincing argument for his Innocence being different from the rest."

The pair spoke for a little while longer about all the different possible explanations for Allen's newly discovered ability before Komui excused himself to return to his duties. He was turning to leave when a different thought struck him. "One last thing. Can you tell if the fragment we lost belongs to one of the exorcists?"

She shook her head sadly. "I'm afraid that I cannot. I have no clue which fragment it was."

.x.x.

If the memory of what had happened in the cafeteria just before I'd passed out weren't vividly etched in my mind and causing me to panic, waking up to both Camilla and Lenalee in my bedroom - in full uniform - would have done it. There was only one reason why they _both_ would be dressed for a mission. If they were both leaving, I was going to be the only exorcist at headquarters, and that was something that was not supposed to be happening while I was pregnant. If they were both leaving, it meant that something very wrong was happening with Lavi and Kanda.

I pushed myself into a seated position and swung my legs off the bed, but Lenalee was at my side and pushing me back down before I could stand up. "Calm down, Allen. Just sit back down. There's no reason for you to be freaking out, ok?"

I tried to protest, but a well-placed kick from the baby made me quickly give up on trying to stand. I settled for scowling at Lenalee. "That would be a lot more believable if you weren't wearing your uniforms."

"Allen..." The hand on my shoulder moved to my ear, but unlike at lunch, I managed to stop her from rubbing it.

Tightening my grip on Lenalee's wrist, I pulled her hand away and glared at her. "No. Explain."

Lenalee met my glare with a stubbornly fierce gaze of her own, but before she could argue with me, Camilla spoke from her chair across the room. "It's exactly what you think it is Allen: we're being sent to find Kanda and Lavi."

My heart clenched at the confirmation of my fears and I dropped my hold on Lenalee's wrist. It took everything I had to not start crying. The two women shared a look and then Lenalee sat down beside me, her hands playing nervously with the hem of her skirt. "After what you told us at lunch, my brother called all of the exorcists out in the field. He personally talked to every single one of them; they're all fine and none of them are missing any Innocence." She swallowed hard. "Except Lavi and Kanda. We haven't been able to get ahold of them."

She was clearly too distraught to continue, so Camilla picked up where she left off. "The scientists were able to determine that we stopped receiving signals from their golems because the golems were destroyed. And the finders that were with them have been confirmed dead."

She paused to let me react, but I was somehow managing to keep calm. I have no idea how though. My fiancé was missing and we'd lost an Innocence fragment associated with his mission, I should have been a total wreck.

Camilla sighed heavily as she stood from her chair. "When they last checked in, they were in a small farming town outside of Budapest. That's where we're being sent. Hopefully we can find them and bring them home before anything bad happens."

They apologized for having to leave me behind, promising to do everything they could to bring Kanda back to me, and then they left. As the door closed behind them, it finally hit me that I might have lost Kanda forever.

I sobbed uncontrollably as I curled up on my side. I have no idea how long I lay there, lost in a whirlwind of emotions as I tried to process the fact that there was a chance my fiancé was dead. Every kick from the baby only served to make my turmoil worse; the possibility that I was going to have to raise her without Yuu at my side was beyond terrifying.

It was dark the next time I became aware of my surroundings. And I wasn't alone. Not only was there someone in my bedroom, they were lying on the bed with me. The arms around me were comforting, and the aura the man gave off was full of worry and concern, but that didn't stop me from jumping in surprise. The reaction earned light laughter from my visitor. "Have you calmed down enough to tell me what's wrong?

I blinked stupidly at my uncle, completely unable to figure out when he'd arrived. "How long have you been here, Neah?"

"Over an hour. You weren't responding to me, so I came to see what was bothering you." He pulled me back against him and returned his hand to my ear. "What happened?"

The question nearly made me start crying again. "We ... we lost contact with- ... with Kanda and Lavi."

.x.x.

I held Allen close to me while he explained what was going on, and it quickly became clear that my initial thought was wrong; he was definitely not overreacting. He resumed crying when he finished talking, and I let him; I knew that anything I said would only make him feel worse. After all, I knew exactly where all the other Noah were. And I was not about to tell Allen that there were three in the area outside Budapest, where they were undoubtedly fighting his missing friends. It was far better for the pregnant neko's health that he didn't know just how bad the situation was.


	27. Chapter 27

A/N: Thanks for the reviews. I love that you're all so into this.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

Mere moments after Camilla and I arrived in Budapest, the Fourteenth Noah stepped out of the ark gate behind us. Neah seemed to have a better grasp on what was happening than we did, so we allowed him to lead us back inside the ark and to a different door. But before he opened it, he stopped and stared seriously at us. "Look. What's going on out there is not pretty, so I need you to focus and not get distracted. We're not here to try to win the fight - we're here to rescue your friends. I know your training is to fight to the death, but you need to ignore that. Just get to them and retreat back here as fast as you can. Got it?"

The battlefield we stepped onto was complete chaos. There were akuma everywhere and everything was in ruins. Neah grabbed Camilla, and together they made their way to where Kanda was fighting, the samurai completely surrounded and ready to drop from exhaustion. Meanwhile, I fought my way to where Lavi was lying unconscious.

It was hard not to get caught up in fighting the Noah that was taunting him, but I knew that I was outmatched; not only was this a fight I couldn't win, it was a fight I wouldn't survive if I tried to see it through. So I focused on incapacitating the Noah for long enough to grab Lavi and run back to the ark gate. The Noah clearly wasn't expecting me to retreat, and we got away.

I reached the ark gate at the same time the others did, and it almost felt like we had actually coordinated our rescue. Almost. Hours had passed since we'd arrived and we were bloodied and exhausted. I could barely stand and Camilla looked like she had taken quite the beating. Just rescuing our friends from that battle was an ordeal. I shudder to think what would have happened if we hadn't arrived when we did.

.x.x.

I woke up in the infirmary. And that was rather surprising given that my last memory was of fighting for my life. I had been fairly certain that that was the end.

I lay in bed for a moment, taking stock of my surroundings and simply enjoying the fact that I was alive. My wounds were throbbing, but they were stitched up and bandaged, and the IV needle in my arm no doubt contained the medication that was keeping my pain at bay. The annoying beeping sound was coming from a machine hooked to my chest, monitoring my heart rate. And when I managed to pry open my one good eye, the first thing I saw was a nurse bending over the bed next to mine. She wasn't nursing though, she was just annoying Kanda.

I relaxed at the sight of the samurai sitting cross legged on his bed with his usual scowl on his face. We both survived. I had lost track of him during the battle, and I was glad to see that he had made it out unscathed. That was the power of a general, after all. Not only had Kanda survived, but he had managed to pull me out of there as well. He'd yell at me for it, but I would have to thank him.

Adjusting to a more comfortable position, I lay back against the pillows and listened to the nurse try to flirt with Kanda. The poor girl was obviously new, otherwise she would have known that there wasn't a sexual bone in his surly body. It was something of a waste that Kanda was so attractive. She'd have had an easier time flirting with a rock.

Apparently done with subtly, the blonde asked him out directly. I braced myself for a storm of curse words, but what I actually heard was so out of character that it broke my brain a little. Kanda gave her a calm look and said, "I'm engaged."

She apologized and fled the room, and I managed to hold in my laughter until the door was closed. "So who are you, and what did you do with Yuu-chan?"

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean, moron?" My comment was rewarded with a pillow thrown expertly and painfully at my face. That was definitely Kanda then, only he was bad-tempered enough to threaten an injured person. "And don't use my first name!"

I laughed as I tucked the pillow behind me. "I don't think I've ever heard you be polite before. Making up a lie like that to spare her feelings, that's something I'd expect from Allen, not you."

Kanda made a really weird face. He mumbled something that sounded like, "It wasn't a lie."

But before I could question him, the door to our room burst open and Allen flew in. _Speak of the devil..._ Panic was written all over his face, but my eye was drawn to his gravid middle; he'd gotten noticeably bigger since I'd last seen him.

Given the agitated state he was in, I expected him to throw himself at me, but instead, he went right by me. To add to my surprise, the neko burst into tears as he sat on the edge of Kanda's bed. I couldn't help it; I had to question his behavior. "Oi, Bean Sprout. Aren't you-?"

A hand was clamped over my mouth before I could finish. I looked up to see Lenalee shaking her head at me. She held a finger to her lips, in the sign for 'be quiet'. It was followed by her mouthing the words, "Shut up and watch."

Dying of curiosity, I looked back to Allen and Kanda, expecting Kanda to flip out at Allen for being a crybaby. Instead, he rolled his eyes and ruffled the neko's hair. "Baka."

Allen's sobs died with the gesture, and he hiccupped a few times as he tried to get ahold of himself. The words he spoke next were whispered as if he thought saying them too loudly would make them come true. "I was so scared that I'd never see you again, Yuu."

 _That was Kanda's first name! Did_ _ **Allen**_ _really just use Kanda's first name and not get yelled at for it?!_ As if answering my question, Kanda's hand moved from the neko's head to his belly, almost caressing his face in the process. I ran my fingers along the scar I'd been given for doing something similar, more than a little confused that Kanda wasn't receiving the same treatment. _What on earth is going on?!_

"I know. I'm sorry, Allen." Kanda Yuu had just apologized _and_ used Allen's real name in the same sentence. My brain was ready to explode from all the out of character behavior I was witnessing, and it was about to get a whole lot worse. "There was one horrible moment when I thought I might not live to meet our daughter. I don't think I've ever felt so terrified."

Allen's hands joined Kanda's on the bulge of his stomach. His breath hitched as he tried to hold in his tears. "Promise me it won't happen again, Yuu. I can't do this without you."

"You know I can't promise that, Moyashi. But I will do everything I can to make sure it doesn't. I have no intention of leaving you to raise our child alone."

Their next words were missed as I tried to wrap my head around what I had just heard. _Kanda's the father of Allen's baby?! How in the hell did_ _ **that**_ _happen?!_

Then they kissed. My mind stopped completely.

.x.x.

The last two days had been hellish. Trying to keep it together and take care of my unborn child while my fiancé was missing in action was unbearably hard. If it weren't for Jerry coaxing me down to the cafeteria every meal, I might not have ever left my bed.

But none of that mattered now. Yuu was alive and back at headquarters. I was so overjoyed to have him back that I didn't care that he was in pretty bad shape. The bandages that wrapped around his body were inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. The man I loved was alive and at my side once more.

After nearly two weeks without him, having Yuu's hands on my pregnant belly felt good. His brush with death hadn't changed his feelings for me or our daughter. He still wanted to be with us.

I pulled away from Kanda's kiss at the painfully loud beeping that filled the room. In searching for the source of the noise, I turned around to see Lenalee laughing at us from where she sat on Lavi's bed, and I blushed fiercely as I realized that Yuu and I weren't alone. "Congratulations guys. You just broke Lavi."

"Good." Kanda snorted. "He was being a pain in the ass."

The door opened and Komui rushed in. He started fussing over Lavi, trying to figure out why his heart monitor was suddenly going crazy. Lenalee placed a gentle hand on her brother's shoulder. "Relax, Komui. He's ok. He just saw something that freaked him out, that's all."

She leaned down and slapped the redhead across the face. The beeping immediately returned to a normal volume, and Lavi's eye lost its glazed look. He moaned overdramatically and buried his face in his hands. "Did I really just see what I think I saw?"

"Yep!" Lenalee was way too cheerful with her answer.

Lavi groaned again. Komui looked back and forth between his sister and the redhead. "What's going on?"

Lenalee just smirked and gestured with her head for Komui to turn around and look at Kanda and me. It wasn't until the Supervisor's face went completely blank that I realized that our hands were still entwined on top of my pregnant belly. I tried to pull away, but Kanda kept a firm grip on my fingers. "Moyashi."

I looked up at Kanda. I was expecting to see his usual irritated expression, but instead I found a softer one. "It's time to come clean, Allen."

"Fine." I sighed and turned back towards the others. But I froze upon seeing their blank expressions. "Umm..."

Lenalee laughed, probably at my embarrassment. "In case you two haven't put it together yet: Kanda's the one who knocked Allen up."

"Lena-lee!" I just knew that my face was bright red. "Don't say it like that!"

She stuck her tongue out at me. "You kept your engagement a secret from me. I'll say it however I want."

I glared at her, but it probably wasn't as powerful as I would have liked given all the crying I'd done earlier. "Exactly how long do you plan to hold that against me?"

Lenalee rolled her eyes at me like the answer was obvious. "Until I get bored of it. Now focus."

I blushed, but before I could say anything, Komui jumped in. "How is that possible, Allen? Kanda shouldn't have been able to get you pregnant."

I scowled at him; I was really tired of scientists saying that to me. "Go talk to Bak. He's got your answers. He did all those tests months ago."

Like at my ultrasound a few weeks earlier, Komui left the room the moment he learned that Bak was involved. But I was definitely ok with that; Bak would have a much easier time explaining those things to Komui than I would have.

When the door closed behind him, I turned my attention on Lavi, only to be at a loss for words once more. This time I was snapped out of it by Yuu tugging on the chain that I wore around my neck. I blushed vividly at the unspoken reminder that I had promised to start wearing my ring once our friends knew about us. "Oh. Right."

Reaching behind my neck, I fumbled briefly as I unfastened the necklace. Then in one fluid motion, I slipped the silver band off the chain and onto my left ring finger. "Happy now?"

Kanda only smirked at me in response. It looked like he was going to say something more, but Lavi beat him to it, firing off question after question about our relationship and the baby. I answered the questions the best I could, but nothing seemed to satisfy him. And no one seemed willing to come to my rescue; Kanda and Lenalee both just sat there and watched the redhead pester me.

It was the baby that finally saved me, though she did it in a rather obnoxious way. I may have wanted a distraction, but I could have done without the harsh kick that nearly had me doubling over in pain and gasping for breath.

After the baby kicked, Kanda was suddenly sitting up straight, and there was a sparkle in his cobalt eyes as he adjusted the position of his hands on my belly. "Did you feel that?"

I knew that he was awestruck over his first time feeling our baby kick, and I wanted to be supportive of him expressing happiness towards her, but the stupidity of his question set off my sarcastic side. "The baby using my stomach for football practice? What do you think, Bakanda?"

He ignored my comments and instead pulled me in for a kiss. His fingers continued to press against my belly, and I knew he was trying to goad the baby into kicking again. I was not about to let that happen, so I grabbed his fingers and bent them backwards as I pulled his hand away. Kanda grunted in pain as he broke the kiss. "Don't. Leave her alone."

He glared at me and tried to free his fingers from my grip. "Let go, Moyashi."

"Promise you'll stop provoking her, Bakanda."

His response was cut off by some barely concealed snickering coming from Lenalee. I blushed and dropped his hand at the reminder that we weren't alone. Ignoring our interlude, Lavi shook his head and returned the conversation to our relationship. "I still don't understand how you could have possibly slept with Yuu, Bean Sprout. That's like crawling in bed with a lion or a bear."

While Kanda yelled at him for using his first name, I couldn't help snorting at Lavi's reaction. "A teddy bear, maybe."

Yuu protested the statement, but the others both stared at me, disbelief written all over their faces. And that was confusing. "What? Kanda's clingy in bed. Don't you know that?"

They both just continued to stare at me. I squirmed under their intense gazes as I struggled to come up with a way to explain what I meant. "What's Kanda's most prized possession?"

The answer was immediate and unanimous. "Mugen."

Kanda's disagreement with that was almost expected. "No it's not."

I sighed and stared deadpan back at him. "We've been over this before, Yuu. I'm not your possession."

He remained silent, and I turned back to the others. "Well, that was basically my point, but I'm going to explain it anyway because you clearly don't get it. You both know how Kanda treats his sword. It's his most precious possession and he acts like it. Now, knowing that that's how he treats a precious _object_ , imagine how he treats the _person_ he has chosen to give himself to."

Lenalee seemed to understand, if the look on her face was any indication, but Lavi just continued to stare blankly at me. After a moment of hard thought, he sighed and shook his head. "I still don't get it, Bean Sprout. It just doesn't make sense. Perhaps you could explain it another way?"

"No." I was beyond done talking about my private life. "I can't explain it anymore, and I don't want to. So let's change the subject. What happened on your mission?"

Kanda snorted and rolled his eyes at me. "As if you don't already know."

I could only blink stupidly at him. "Huh?"

Lenalee gave me the same annoyed look as Kanda, though hers was a little kinder. "You can't honestly tell us that you don't know that Neah orchestrated the whole rescue, Allen."

"What?" That was news to me. Neah had even been here, comforting me over Yuu's disappearance, and he never once let on that he was going to try to help. "How?"

Lenalee blinked at me. "You really didn't know?"

I shook my head, but before I could say anything, Lavi jumped in. "Well _I_ certainly don't know! In case you've forgotten, I was unconscious for most of this."

Ignoring the redhead's outburst, Kanda brushed a hand into my hair and rested his palm against my scarred cheek. "We got ambushed by three of the Noah. Just when it seemed like we weren't going to make it out of there, Neah showed up with Lenalee and Camilla. They provided enough of a distraction for us to escape into the ark." He stared seriously down at me. "The real question is, how did he know what was going on?"

I frowned at the accusation in his tone. "Yes, that was me. But you know that he's nosy and keeps tabs on me. It shouldn't be at all surprising to you that he picked up on the distress I felt when they told me you'd gone missing."

"That's certainly true." Yuu snickered and then pulled me closer to him. He kissed me gently before whispering in my ear. "I missed you, Moyashi."

 _ **Thank you, Neah.**_

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

A/N #2: I'm not going to be able post on Thursdays for a while, so I'm moving my posting day to Friday. Also, I'm going to be very busy next week and won't be able to post at all. You're going to have to wait three weeks (3/16) for Chapter 28. At least this chapter wasn't a cliffhanger like the last few. ;)


	28. Chapter 28

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! You guys are great. Sorry this is later than promised; those of you following my other stories and checking the updates on my profile know that I got sick, but I'm better now. ;)

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

I was officially done with the second trimester of my pregnancy. All I had to do was make it through the next three months, and then I'd have my baby girl and I'd never, ever, ever have to go through this ordeal again. I was more than a little uncertain about being a parent, but as of right now, that sounded infinitely preferable to being pregnant.

It had been two weeks since Kanda and Lavi had been rescued from their last mission, and all four of my friends had recovered enough from the injuries they'd sustained to be discharged from the infirmary. I would forever be grateful to Camilla and Lenalee for the part they played in rescuing my fiancé. Neah may have orchestrated the rescue, but I owed my peace of mind to the girls; they were the ones who had done all the work.

But my mind wasn't truly put at ease until I got the confirmation directly from Kanda that the Innocence fragment that was destroyed on their mission was neither his nor Lavi's. While it was awful that the Noah had beaten them to the one they'd been sent to collect, I could only be thankful that neither of my friends had had to experience the pain of losing their Innocence.

My prodding on the subject led to Yuu giving me a whole lot of grief for never telling him about my ability to sense the Innocence like that. But he let up after Komui told us about his conversation with Hevlaska. Yuu knew that the possibility that I possessed the Heart of the Innocence was something that really stressed me out, so he chose to stop teasing me about it.

Today was a day I'd been looking forward to for a long time. Even with getting engaged and having a child on the way, the first anniversary of my relationship with Kanda was a huge milestone. We had lasted an entire year as a couple.

And I wasn't ever going to tell him this, but I actually liked wearing my ring. I knew my reasons for not wearing it were sound, but now that I was actually wearing it every day, I wished that I'd been wearing it all along. That little strip of silver belonged on my hand. But I was never going to admit that Kanda had been right.

After talking to Bak, Komui had calmed down and accepted that Kanda was the father of my baby, but when he saw the ring, he had flipped out again. Learning that I had been engaged the entire time he thought I'd been raped was news that he did not take well. But he wasn't upset that I had kept my engagement a secret, he was upset that I was engaged. His reaction was so weird that I had to go talk to Lenalee about it. The only thing she offered by way of an explanation was, "Welcome to the other side." It wasn't until she laughed and walked off that I understood. At some time during the course of my pregnancy - possibly even going all the way back to when I first became a neko - I had gone from being a threat to Lenalee to someone that Komui felt the need to protect; he was going to be as psychotically overprotective of me as he was of his younger sister. And while that meant that I was most likely safe from future robot attacks, it was still more than a little terrifying.

On the other hand, his attachment to me meant that all of the doctors in the infirmary were now familiar with all of the details of my pregnancy and all of my medical needs, which meant that if I ever needed emergency help, I wouldn't have to waste time tracking Komui down, and that was something I was definitely in favor of. Plus, the doctors and nurses were infinitely more knowledgeable about pregnancy than Komui was, and on top of that, they were able to explain my upcoming surgery in such a way that I actually felt good about going through with it. I still did not like the idea of having to be cut open to get the baby out of me, but I felt much better about the whole thing now that I knew someone other than the psychotic supervisor was going to be doing the cutting.

But that was the last thing I wanted to be thinking about today.

Kanda was gone when I woke up, but that wasn't anything new; he was a morning person, and in my current condition, I was even more inclined to sleeping in than I usually was. So while it was a little disappointing not to see my fiancé first thing on our anniversary, it didn't particularly surprise me.

After stopping for breakfast, I went to look for him. Unless he was disobeying orders - he wasn't medically cleared for missions yet - he should have been _somewhere_ at headquarters. But I couldn't find him. And that was disheartening.

But only until I bumped into Lavi.

As soon as I saw the redhead, I knew exactly why I couldn't find Kanda. Yuu wasn't mad or avoiding me, he was hiding from his self-proclaimed best friend. Lavi had been pestering him nonstop about our relationship for the last two weeks and he was obviously seeking some peace and quiet.

Of which, I now had very little.

As soon as he saw me, Lavi was throwing an arm around my shoulders and guiding me back the way I'd come. I plastered a cheerful smile on my face as he chattered nonstop about things I was sick and tired of talking about. No matter how much or how emphatically I said it, Lavi just couldn't seem to comprehend that not only had I never been interested in Lenalee, I had been in love with Kanda from the very beginning.

The redhead led me back to my room, but that was fine with me; if he was going to hang around and annoy me, it made much more sense to do that from the comfort of my own furniture. As I settled into one of the armchairs, Lavi looked around uncomfortably. Guessing what he was thinking, I smirked devilishly at him. "If you're wanting to sit somewhere we haven't had sex, you're going to have to remain standing."

Lavi turned a queer shade of green and looked like he might vomit. I laughed as I adjusted my tail to a more comfortable position. "I'm joking. _Obviously_. Why would we have sex on the couch when we've got a huge bed in the other room?"

He pouted at me, but he did sit down. We chatted until lunchtime, and then we made our way down to the dining hall together.

Halfway to our destination, we heard the loud bang of an explosion coming from the direction of the science division. We shared a look, decided it was safest to ignore whatever it was that was happening down there, and continued on our way. But less than thirty seconds later, the hall we were in was swamped with scientists and finders, all running away from the cloud of noxious smelling smoke that was following them.

In their hurry to escape, Lavi and I were swept to the side. Pushed so roughly off balance, I lost my footing and fell, unable to keep myself upright when the weight of my pregnant belly was pulling down. Falling was one of the few circumstances where I was glad to be short - it meant I was less likely to hurt myself, as I didn't have as far to fall as others did. But my lack of height did little to help me in this situation.

Prior to my fall, I had been standing at the top of a flight of stairs.

And once I'd lost my balance, I didn't stop falling until I was at the bottom of the stairs.

My pregnancy had slowed my reaction times greatly, and I was very much unable to stop my fall, but I was still a critical breaker. The instant I thought about it, I had activated my Innocence, wrapping Crowned Clown's cloak around my body and protecting both myself and the baby from harm. Tumbling on the stairs and landing on the stone floor still hurt, but nowhere near as badly as it would have otherwise.

I groaned as I pushed myself to a seated position, finally noticing that the chaos on the floor above had come to a screeching halt when I fell. Lavi bounded down the stairs after me, panic written all over his face. "Oh my god! Allen! Are you ok?"

Taking a quick moment to check for injuries, as I knew by now that I couldn't lie about those while I was pregnant, I smiled reassuringly at the redhead. "I'm fine."

Lavi seemed to believe me, but when I proved unable to get to my feet on my own, that relieved look faded back to one of concern. Despite my protests - it was the size of my belly, _not_ an injury, that was preventing me from being able to stand - I found myself picked up and whisked off to the infirmary. We bumped into Camilla and Lenalee on the way, and, much to my chagrin, they also flew into a panic after hearing that I'd fallen down the stairs.

The infirmary staff also freaked out when they heard what happened, and they whisked me off to an examination room before I could get a word in edgewise. I had some pretty bad bruises on my arms and legs, but otherwise, both the baby and I were fine. That didn't stop the doctors from wanting to keep me in the infirmary overnight for observation though.

It wasn't until Yuu burst into my infirmary room, outwardly expressing his panic in front of the others, that I realized the severity of what had almost happened: a fall like that could have killed my baby. That thought terrified me, and I was much gentler with telling my fiancé that I was fine than I had been with everyone else.

Eventually, the chaos around me died down, and I was left alone, with Kanda in the chair beside my bed and our friends standing awkwardly around us, clearly unsure whether or not they should still be concerned for my health. I couldn't help sighing dejectedly as I leaned back against the pillows. Kanda laughed at my reaction and tousled my hair, his hand coming to a stop at the base of my left ear. As he began to rub at that sensitive spot, he placed his other hand on my belly. "This was not how I pictured us spending our anniversary."

We were pulled from our private moment when Lenalee spoke up. "'Anniversary'?"

The confused looks our friends were giving us were a little off-putting, but Kanda just shrugged and explained. "Yeah. We got together the day the Moyashi became a neko. That was exactly one year ago today."

Our friends continued to stare at us in stunned silence, even though I knew that this wasn't new information for any of them. It was Lavi who finally spoke, but then, he never could keep his mouth shut for long. "Wow. I didn't expect you to have a romantic streak, Yuu-chan."

While Kanda snarled over the redhead's use of his first name, I couldn't help snickering at the comment. "Kanda's just a pervert who's disappointed that he's not going to get laid tonight." Catching the scandalized look Yuu was giving me, I smirked at him and let my dark side out. "You're just lucky that the reminder that I've been half cat for a year didn't happen while we were alone together."

Unexpectedly, Kanda simply snorted at the threat I had thought would piss him off. Then again, he knew that I was no longer upset about being a neko, and therefore he'd know that I wasn't anywhere near as angry as I was pretending to be. "Given what happened the day we got together, you topping on our anniversary would be appropriate."

I blushed, horribly mortified by the fact that he would say something like that in front of our friends. But that blush quickly morphed into a smirk when I noticed Lavi's expression. Kanda noticed it too, and he was quick to speak before the redhead could tease him for what he'd said. "What's that look for, Usagi? You already know that we take turns being dominant; it's not like this is new information for you. Besides, why does it matter who's on top? The sex is just as good both ways."

Understandably, our friends all found excuses to leave after that; Lavi was embarrassed and the girls were uncomfortable with us talking so openly about our sex life. But I didn't mind. It was my anniversary, it may not have gone the way I planned, but if our friends were gone, I could at least be alone with Yuu.

Kanda joined me on the bed, wrapping one arm around my shoulders and placing the other around my pregnant belly. The baby shifted inside me and kicked at his hand, the motion giving me further reassurance that she was perfectly fine after my fall. Yuu smiled happily at her touch, taking my breath away with the out of character expression. But the look disappeared as he kissed my temple and reclined back against the pillows. "Can you believe it's been a year already, Moyashi? Did you ever imagine back then that we'd last this long?"

I laughed at the question, placing my hands on my belly with his. "I don't know. But I certainly never pictured us _here_ : engaged and with your baby growing inside my body. A year may feel like a long time, especially back then, but we've got a whole lifetime together in front of us now."

Yuu frowned at me. "That's sappy, Moyashi."

"You started it." I stuck my tongue out at him. "Besides, it's our anniversary. I'm allowed to say things like that today. And by the way, the proper response to what I said is 'I love you'."

He laughed at my pouting and kissed me. "Yes, but we're in the infirmary and you're on bed rest. And I'm not about to risk getting caught by the nurses. So for tonight, you just have to know that it's true, and I'll actually say it tomorrow when it's safe for you to react the way you want to."


	29. Chapter 29

A/N: Thanks for the reviews. I very much appreciate hearing how much you are enjoying this story. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. :)

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

I woke up the next morning feeling incredibly sore, partially from the uncomfortable infirmary bed, but mostly from the bruises and muscle aches that came from my fall. The doctors had refused to give me any sort of medication because of my pregnancy; they were too worried about the possibility that the drugs would harm the baby to be concerned with the pain I was in. But while it was good that they were trying to protect the baby, I definitely wished that they would have at least given me _something._ I hated the way my muscles screamed at me whenever I moved.

To make it all even worse, the second I was discharged, Komui showed up at my infirmary room and dragged me down to see Hevlaska. My fall had reminded him that my Innocence hadn't been examined since I'd gotten pregnant, and he was very adamant that that be done as soon as possible. And as annoying as the whole thing was, it was made even more intolerable by the fact that he lectured me the whole walk about how stupid it was for me to be activating my Innocence while I was pregnant. While the thought that my parasitic Innocence might be harming my unborn child was scary, I felt entirely justified in defending my actions; if I hadn't activated Crowned Clown the day before, the baby might have died from my fall. But I was arguing with a crazy person - Komui didn't hear a single thing I said.

I turned to my friends for help, but they kept their silence, not wanting to say anything that would set Komui off on them. Lenalee gave me a shrug that seemed to say that she sympathized with my plight, but not even she could stop her brother when he got like that.

Komui was still lecturing me when we walked through the door, and to my surprise, Hevlaska laughed at him and spoke up in my defense. "You're overlooking the fact that Crowned Clown basically caused Allen's pregnancy, Komui. If activating was going to harm the baby, Crowned Clown wouldn't have activated."

My gratefulness over her getting Komui to shut up came to an abrupt end when she turned her stare on me. "As for you, Allen..." I swallowed hard in fear and that made Kanda snicker from behind me. "You should have come to me immediately when you first realized you could feel the destruction of the Innocence. That's the kind of thing that I need to know if I'm going to be able to examine you properly, got it?"

I nodded and Hevlaska immediately smiled and went back to being cheerful. "Now, I imagine that you're here for an examination."

My face fell at the thought of being examined, causing my friends to laugh at me. Hevlaska ignored them and proceeded to pick me up with her tendrils. It took everything I had not to throw up at the feeling of being examined. Hevlaska's exams were always creepily invasive, but in my current condition, that feeling was intensely magnified; the baby didn't like being examined either.

But halfway through the exam, something happened to distract me from my discomfort. A bright flash of green light suddenly filled the chamber, disappearing almost as quickly as it had appeared.

When Hevlaska set me down, I was shaky on my feet and collapsed to my knees. The nausea returned and, to my absolute horror, I threw up right there on the floor. Kanda was immediately beside me, rubbing my back and helping me to my feet and away from the mess I'd just made. Hevlaska apologized for setting off my morning sickness, but everyone else ignored the fact that I'd just vomited in front of them, staring expectantly at Hevlaska and waiting for an explanation of what had happened. I was not quite so curious; I was pretty sure that I knew _exactly_ what that light was, and I did _**not**_ want to hear it said out loud.

But it seemed like Hevlaska knew that, as she was in no hurry to address the subject. "Allen and the baby are both perfectly fine. As I said earlier, activating Crowned Clown is not harmful to either of them. In fact, Crowned Clown even seems to be suppressing itself, so that it's draining Allen less than usual."

I was thankful that she was avoiding the subject, but Komui wasn't going to let it go. "But if everything is fine, what was that light?"

Hevlaska sighed heavily as she bent down to retrieve one of the pieces of Innocence she held. I took it when she offered it to me, but it was the last thing I wanted to touch in that moment. "I'm sorry, Allen."

Kanda's hold on my shoulders tightened as he realized that I was holding our unborn daughter's Innocence fragment, but no one else seemed to understand, if the confused looks on their faces were any indication. Hevlaska sighed again. "She hasn't developed enough to bond with it yet, but this Innocence piece belongs to Allen's baby."

Lenalee muffled a sob, but otherwise the room around us was deathly silent. Kanda kissed the top of my head as I numbly let Hevlaska take the baby's Innocence from me. I didn't know what to think or how to process what had just happened. My daughter was Innocence compatible; she was going to be an exorcist. It was terrifying news, but at the same time, it felt like it wasn't news at all; somehow, on some level, I had always known that it was going to turn out like this. Kanda and I were both critical breakers, it seemed inevitable that our child would also be an accommodator.

Yuu pulled me into a tight hug. His heart rate was going crazy, telling me that despite his calm exterior, he was every bit as upset about this as I was. He kissed the top of my head once more and whispered in my ear so quietly that the others couldn't hear us. "I'm not happy about this either, Moyashi, but with the baby being an accommodator, we don't have to worry about Central taking her from us anymore. We're going to get to keep her."

That was an incredibly valid point, and it did make me feel a whole lot better, but my daughter having Innocence was still bad news. It was taking a whole lot of effort to not cry.

It was almost expected that Lavi was the first to break the somber silence that had settled around us. He laughed lightly as he tousled my hair, earning a glare from Kanda for being too close to me. "Think of it this way, Bean Sprout. Your daughter is going to be a second generation exorcist. In the entire history of the Black Order, that's never happened before, and that's got to be pretty special, right?"

His words made me freeze. _'Never happened before'? But that would mean..._ Before I realized what I was saying, I had corrected him. "Third. She's _third_ generation. I'm second and that makes her third."

I blushed and clamped my hand over my mouth, but it was too late. The spark in Lavi's eye said that he knew exactly what my words had meant; it was quite clear that he was about to explode with curiosity. After all, my friends had all become quite familiar with my mother over the past several months, and she had been very good about keeping her promise to not talk about Cross being my father.

"Your father's an exorcist? But Natasha said..." Lenalee's words trailed off into silence, but she didn't have to say them. We all knew that my mother had told them that she didn't know who my father was.

"Because I asked her to." I pulled out of Kanda's hold to scowl at my friends. One look at their faces told me that they were all dying of curiosity and were prepared to say whatever they had to in order to convince me to tell them the truth. But I was still far from ready to have them know _that_. So I turned on my heel and left the room.

.x.x.

Kanda was quick to follow after his Moyashi, but the other exorcists stayed where they were. They turned to Komui for answers, but the Supervisor just shook his head at them. "Yes. I know. But that's Allen's story to tell. Until he's ready for you to know, I can't and won't say anything."

Lenalee blinked at her brother in confusion. "... But you told us he was pregnant without his permission..."

Komui sighed, fighting with his desire to keep his sister happy. "That was different. We didn't have the time to wait for him to be ready then, and he needed your help dealing with his pregnancy. There's no time constraint on this and there's nothing we can do to help him; we simply have to wait." He turned a stern frown on Lavi, making sure that the redhead knew that the next words were meant for him. "So don't go pestering him about it. Trying to pry the answer out of him will do more harm than good. Got it?"

The exorcists nodded, but they still set off to try to pry the answer out of Allen.

Once they were alone, Hevlaska laughed. "As expected, Allen still isn't taking that news well. Learning that the general that trained him is his biological father is understandably too much for him to process."

"It certainly doesn't help that they have such a rocky relationship outside of simply being teacher and student." Komui's laughter cut off abruptly. "... Wait. You knew all along?"

Hevlaska nodded, gently reminding Komui of something he already knew. "The Innocence tells me lots of things that I don't always share because they're too private. Especially parasitic Innocence. I have known that part of Allen's history since the first time I examined him. Announcing that General Cross was his biological father would have caused far too many problems, so I kept it to myself."

Komui was silent; that reasoning was something he didn't have an argument against, as it was also his own reasoning for keeping silent. But then a different thought occurred to him. "Then you also know about Allen's daughter?"

The hesitance in the question made Hevlaska laugh; it was obvious what Komui was trying to ask even though he wouldn't say the actual words. "Yes, I know that General Kanda is her father."

Looking like he was about to say something, Komui froze as Hevlaska's words struck a nerve. "That's right. Kanda's a general. I wonder..."

When he trailed off and didn't say anything more, Hevlaska prompted him to share what he was thinking. "Wonder what?"

Komui remained silent for a moment longer, trying to figure out how to word what he was thinking. "Allen's an accommodator and his father is a general. The baby is also an accommodator, and she also has a general for a father."

Hevlaska smiled as she added on something he was forgetting. "And a mother."

"Right." Komui blinked at the unexpected interruption before returning to his explanation. "And that can't be a coincidence, right? We already know that compatibility with Innocence doesn't run in families, but could there be a connection between Innocence compatibility and having a parent who has broken critical?"

After a moment of thought, Hevlaska sighed. "That's entirely possible. But as they pointed out earlier, Allen's the first second generation accommodator. This is the first time any of this has happened. Which means that the only way to test your theory is to wait for one of the other generals to have a kid. Because until then, the only cases connect directly to Allen, and given that we have good reason to believe that he possesses the Heart of the Innocence, there are other ways to explain things."

.x.x.

Three days after my exam with Hevlaska, I was back in the infirmary. Fortunately, it was just for my weekly exam and not for an injury or illness. But on the other hand, just about any visit to the infirmary was stress inducing, even if it was routine in nature.

As was the norm lately, I reclined on the bed, waiting in complete silence while the various doctors and nurses took my vital signs and ran through their tests. Not a single word was spoken until they were done, not even to acknowledge Komui when he showed up, even though he'd technically been banned from being at my exams. "You're free to go now, Allen. You and your child are both perfectly healthy. And you'll be happy to know that at twenty six weeks gestation, the fetus is now viable, so-"

I frowned, hating that despite my protests, the doctors continued to refer to my daughter in that cold, scientific way; the word fetus felt so impersonal. "What does that mean, she's 'viable'?"

Komui spoke up from where he'd been hovering in the doorway. "Basically it means that she's developed enough to survive outside of your womb. So if something were to happen and we had to perform the surgery early, the baby would live. She'd probably have serious health problems from being premature, but she'd live."

It was amazing how much stress that relieved. Just knowing that my unborn baby was now strong enough to survive outside of me if one of those worst case scenarios I'd been stressing about were to happen made feel so much better about everything.

Clearing his throat awkwardly, Komui reclaimed my attention. "I have a message for you from Hevlaska. She wanted me to tell you that-"

"The baby bonded with her Innocence last night." I frowned down at my lap and absently rubbed at my belly. I definitely still had mixed feelings about my daughter being an accommodator. "I felt it happen. I guess that since she's developed enough to survive outside of me, she's also developed enough to sync with her Innocence."

Komui nodded solemnly. "Yes. And you do realize that this means that, like yours, your daughter's Innocence is parasitic, right?"

"I do." I couldn't help the stray tear that ran down my face. As much as I didn't want my baby to be an accommodator, I wanted her to be a parasite-type even less. She was already going to have to face so many problems for being a neko; she didn't need the added hardship of having a physical deformity as well.


	30. Chapter 30

A/N: Wow, thirty chapters - this story's gotten long. Thanks for all of your reviews; they make me feel appreciated, and on days like today, I really need that.

To ZacckFairy: Suman did and Timothy does, and I know she's an OC I made up, but Camilla's also got a physical deformity where her Innocence is. So from Allen's perspective, it's actually more likely that the baby will be deformed than not. But you're definitely right about Allen and Kanda becoming like Komui.

Those of you concerned about Central will want to read what's coming...

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

The entire cafeteria was sitting on pins and needles. The air in the room was so thick with tension that you could cut it with a knife. Everyone tried to enjoy their food and act like everything was normal, but that was next to impossible in the current situation.

While any finders and scientists unlucky enough to find themselves in the dining hall during Kanda's mealtime were always on edge while they ate - they were too terrified of accidentally upsetting the grouchy samurai and incurring his wrath to be able to fully enjoy themselves - things had only gotten worse lately.

Kanda hadn't left headquarters in over three weeks. Since his promotion to general, the samurai was usually only ever home for dinner and that made him relatively easy to avoid, but the last three weeks had been torture for the finders, as the one person who scared them the most was always around.

They blamed the infirmary staff at first; Kanda may have been injured on his last mission, but the doctors had kept him on medical leave longer than he actually needed to completely recover. But they no longer knew who to blame, as the samurai had been cleared for active duty over a week ago and he still had yet to leave headquarters. They were simultaneously terrified and mystified by his constant presence, completely unable to figure out what his reasons were for sticking around.

But what made today especially bad was that the only other exorcist present was Allen Walker. The pair were sitting side by side, eating their meals in complete silence. It was more than a little eerie given how vocal and violent the pair always were with each other. But as the meal progressed, not a single insult was uttered or a single punch was thrown. For some completely inexplicable reason, Allen Walker and Kanda Yuu were being civil to each other - without having someone else around to make them act that way.

Of course, no one saw the way their ankles were linked together under the table. And no one was sitting close enough to overhear the occasional whispered words the boys exchanged. So it came as quite a surprise to them when the first sound they heard out of the pair was laughter.

It was normal to hear laughter from the exorcists' table, so no one read much into the sound, at least, not until they realized that that wasn't Allen's laughter. All activity came to a screeching halt as all heads turned to where Allen and Kanda were sitting. Their eyes confirmed what their ears were hearing, but they still couldn't believe it. Kanda Yuu was laughing. Genuinely. The grouchiest man in the Order was actually happy about something.

Almost as if he was intentionally torturing their already tortured brains, the next thing Kanda did was turn to his lunch companion and kiss the neko on the lips. It was just a short, chaste kiss, but the way it made Allen smile was just as unnerving as Kanda's laughter was.

Paying attention to only each other, Allen and Kanda were completely oblivious to the stares they were receiving and the fact that they were in a public place. Which is why the next thing Allen did was place Kanda's hand on his swollen belly and slide it over so that it was resting on the spot their baby was kicking.

Upon seeing Kanda touching Allen in such an intimate way and without incurring the neko's wrath, a collective gasp filled the room. The noise startled the pair, and Allen blushed fiercely as he tried to push Kanda's hand away, earning a fierce glare from the samurai. But before they could start arguing, a finder who was feeling particularly brave found his voice. "I don't understand, Allen? Why are you letting Kanda touch your belly? I thought you hated people touching it. How are you not hurting him like you hit Lavi?"

The question made Allen's blush deepen, and as he squirmed in his seat, trying to come up with a believable lie, Kanda rolled his eyes and spoke up. "Che. Because it's my baby, moron."

The entire cafeteria went deathly silent as everyone tried to process the completely unexpected answer. No one could believe that the pair had kissed, much less that they had slept together and conceived a child, and they had actually seen the kiss with their own eyes.

The blunt way Kanda announced their relationship made Allen freak out a little. "I can't believe you just said that, Bakanda!"

The bickering that followed would have been reassuring, making everyone think that they had imagined the previous out of character display, except that the words the pair were exchanging made it painfully obvious that they were having a lovers' spat. However impossible it may have seemed, they were in a relationship. This was further confirmed by the fact that their fighting came to an abrupt end when Kanda captured Allen's lips in a fierce kiss.

Allen tried to fight it, incredibly uncomfortable with the public display of affection, but his struggling ceased when Kanda's hand slipped behind his back and started playing with the base of his tail. The deep moan he let out made the previously silent cafeteria come alive with chatter. Everyone spoke at once, all trying to get their questions answered by the pair, but it was just too loud for any of those questions to actually be heard.

Finally breaking away from his fiancé's kiss, Allen shot the samurai a glare that was answered by a smug smirk; Kanda was too pleased that their relationship was now public to be worried about his Moyashi's anger over it. Rolling his eyes at the stubborn reaction, Allen sighed and turned his attention on the finders and scientists around him. He cleared his throat and the chatter immediately ceased. "It's true. Kanda's the father of my baby. We're engaged, and we've been dating for over a year."

The flurry of questions that followed was interrupted by the arrival of Lavi and Lenalee; the two exorcists had heard the din as they were passing by and thought that they could help diffuse the situation. Which, to both Allen and Kanda's relief, they did. The discussion that followed was much more organized and rational than the chaotic shouting it was before they showed up.

Until the subject got changed.

"So you weren't raped?" A quiet voice spoke up from the back of the crowd, and the question was immediately backed up by the rest of the group.

Allen sighed heavily, trying to keep his exasperation to himself; the fact that people so readily assumed that he had been raped irritated him greatly. "For argument's sake, let's assume I was. Whoever did it would have had to get through _me_ , and I would _not_ have gone down without a fight. And if through some miracle they did manage to live through raping me, they would have had to deal with my boyfriend, and I'm sure you all know from experience that he is not someone you want to piss off." Allen paused his rant to watch the group shudder at the thought of Kanda's temper. "Not only that, but my mother is a powerful witch who has a proven tendency to curse people who hurt me. Raping me would be a sure fire way to piss her off. Assuming, of course, that Cross didn't get to them first. He's been weirdly nice to me ever since we learned that he's my father, and he would certainly have something... to..."

The neko trailed off as he realized what he'd just let slip. He looked back and forth between his friends and the crowd, who were all so completely stunned that it didn't look like they were breathing. He narrowed his eyes and hissed dangerously at them. "Yes. You heard me right. Now drop it. I'm not going to say anything more on the subject."

The words were followed by him getting to his feet and stalking out of the cafeteria, Kanda on his heels. Allen didn't make it far though, as Komui showed up at just that moment. Fortunately for Allen's sanity, the Supervisor was coming to collect the neko and his fiancé for a private discussion. Neither young man cared about what he wanted to discuss, they were just thankful for an excuse to escape from the nosy crowd.

.x.x.

I settled onto the couch in Komui's office, seeking out the most comfortable position I could find. But when the first words he spoke were, "Central has reached a decision regarding your homosexual relationship," I regretted the reclined position that kept me from being able to jump to my feet. I was very much dreading this moment.

The stern look on Komui's face morphed into a happy smile as he sat down at his desk, and I knew at once that it was good news. "Because the child Allen is carrying is an accommodator, they are going to allow the two of you to get married. But only on the condition that you do so before the baby's born, which I can't imagine either of you having a problem with. You will also be allowed to raise her yourselves, provided that this doesn't prevent you from performing your duties and that you are diligent in training her for her future as an exorcist."

Those words filled me with happiness. But when I turned to smile at Kanda, he just smirked smugly at me. "Told you so."

Komui suddenly sighed heavily and adjusted his glasses. "There are a few other things you need to know. It is not solely the fact that the baby is Innocence compatible that convinced them to be so lenient with you. I have been discussing the situation with the council ever since we learned of your pregnancy, Allen, and while the fact that your daughter has Innocence helped a lot, it is not what truly convinced them to go against their own rules and leave you alone."

The seriousness of his tone put me back on edge. "What do you mean?"

"I presented the council with many different theories and scenarios, but it was something Hevlaska said a few weeks ago that finally changed their minds. You're not going to like it, but hopefully you'll agree that this is for the best."

I glanced over at Kanda, only to see that he looked as confused as I felt. "What are you trying to say, Komui? You're not making any sense."

He stared at me for a moment, clearly struggling with whatever it was he was trying to tell me. "You've been classified as no longer human."

My heart stopped as I tried to process that. "What? Not human? I don't understand."

Komui sighed heavily. "'Neko' has been declared a separate species from human. Which means that you and your daughter, along with any future children you may bear that inherit your neko traits, are all to be classified as neko instead of human. And you specifically have been declared Altered."

I slumped dejectedly against the armrest. "Well that doesn't sound good at all."

Komui smiled, seemingly amused by my reaction. "It's definitely not as bad as you think it is, Allen. It's short for 'Altered by Innocence'. It means that you've bonded so deeply with your Innocence that it's not only changed your physical form, it's given you supernatural powers that go beyond those of an exorcist."

I shot him a look, but he spoke before I could interrupt. "I know you know I'm talking about your ability to sense the destruction of the Innocence, Allen. Don't try to play dumb."

The words made me frown; I still did not like the idea of being classified as not human, and this whole Altered thing only made that feeling worse.

Komui smiled at my reaction. "There's no need to pout about it either. You're not the only Altered here at headquarters."

I could only blink stupidly at him, not understanding in the slightest what he was trying to tell me. "I'm not? ... Who?"

This time Komui laughed outright at me. "Hevlaska."

I blinked slowly at him, finally understanding everything that he'd been trying to tell me. All that babble about me being not human was meant as a way to sidestep what he knew I hadn't wanted to hear. "So, wait, Central's going easy on me because I have the Heart?"

"That's one way of putting it." Komui smiled, obviously relieved that he hadn't been the one to say it. "But while this means that they're going to accept your homosexual relationship, there are some other consequences that you're not going to like."

I sighed, easily guessing what he was going to say, as I had known this was coming since we'd discovered my pregnancy. "I'm never going to be a general."

Komui nodded slowly. "Officially, your status as a lieutenant general has also been revoked." I nearly broke out sobbing at hearing that, but he was quick to continue with his explanation. "As an Altered, you no longer follow the same rules as the rest of the exorcists. But seeing as we still don't know what being Altered means for your specific case, when you resume your duties after your maternity leave is over, you will continue to work as a lieutenant general until we figure that out."

I didn't know what to say to that, and Komui apparently had nothing more to say, as silence fell around us. We sat like that for a little while as I attempted to process everything I'd just been told, but then Komui was dismissing us so that he could get back to work, which we all knew really meant that he wanted to take a nap.

Kanda wrapped his arm around me as he led me out of the room. When the door closed behind us, he pulled me in for a gentle kiss. "I know you're confused and upset, but for now, just focus on the good parts, Moyashi. Not only do we get to keep our baby, they're letting us get married."

.x.x.

Allen was a little bit melancholy after our meeting with Komui, but after getting to tell our friends that Central had approved of our engagement, he perked back up to his usual cheerful self. And that was good, as a happy Moyashi was much easier to deal with than a crying one was.

I returned from brushing my teeth to find Allen already asleep. And I knew from the random twitching of his cat ears that he was not waking up any time soon. He was lying in the center of the bed, on his left side and surrounded by pillows, as that was one of the few comfortable positions left to him in his condition. The way he was curled in on himself almost made it look like he was trying to protect the baby from an unseen threat. His arms were even wrapped around the bulge of his belly, which was still a rare sight even after that fateful ultrasound.

I didn't want to disturb him, but I also knew that the way he was positioned on the bed meant that he wanted me to join him. He was waiting for me to climb in bed behind him and wrap my body around his. He may have been giving me crap in front of our friends for being 'cuddly', but even asleep, the neko was more than willing to be my little spoon.

When I climbed in bed behind him and wrapped my arms around his shoulders, the Moyashi sighed contentedly and snuggled closer to my chest. Sleep was slow to come that night, but I was ok with that; watching my pregnant fiancé sleep in my arms made the insomnia worth it. I still couldn't believe that things had worked out this way. That annoying little shrimp who had pissed me off so badly on his first day at the Order and who had proceeded to worm his way into my heart against my will had returned my feelings. Not only had the Moyashi and I been together for a full year, but he was carrying my child and we were actually going to be allowed to get married. In a matter of weeks, Allen Walker was going to be my husband.


	31. Chapter 31

A/N: As always, thanks for all the reviews. I very much appreciate them.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

Things had just finally settled down with Lavi when the rest of the Order found out about my relationship with the Moyashi. I was thankful for that; I'd wanted it to be this way from the very beginning of his pregnancy and was glad to finally be able to kiss my Moyashi whenever I wanted. Unfortunately, Allen was less than thrilled with my public displays of affection and even less thrilled with everyone knowing. He got over his annoyance once the questions stopped, but that's when Lenalee and Camilla started bombarding him with wedding plans, so he still couldn't get much peace. I felt bad for him, but they were leaving me out of it, so I wasn't about to intervene.

In a pleasant turn of events, I was officially excused from missions until after the baby was born. I still went occasionally, when I needed space or if the Moyashi was being hormonal and annoying, but it was quite relieving that I was allowed to stay home whenever I wanted.

The one downside to everyone knowing the truth was that it was only a matter of time before the news reached Teidoll. It hadn't yet, and with any luck, Marie would keep that from happening until I was ready, but I was still dreading what would happen when the old man learned that I was going to be a father.

On the other hand, I was actually looking forward to telling Cross. I knew he was going to give me grief over getting Allen pregnant, and I was prepared with several comebacks that I was sure would shut him up. Allen didn't see it the same way I did; instead, he seemed to be rather terrified of talking to Cross. I sort of understood that he didn't want to face the man he had only recently learned was his biological father, but otherwise his fear had me completely baffled. I thought he'd finally accepted it when he'd found the nerve to tell everyone, but from the way he squirmed whenever the subject came up, that clearly wasn't the case.

Having had enough of trying and failing at figuring the Moyashi out, I decided to just ask him about it directly. He'd probably push me away, but I had to at least try.

I found Allen exactly where I expected to find him: reclining on the window seat in the nursery. It had become his favorite spot over the last few weeks, and he could often be found there, wrapped in blankets while reading or napping. Lavi called it his nest, which Allen thought was cute at first, but then he learned that the redhead was comparing him to a pregnant cat... the Usagi was lucky he didn't end up with another scar.

It wasn't all that unusual to find the Moyashi just staring out the window while looking completely lost in thought, but there was something about the way he was doing it tonight that put me on edge. For starters, he wasn't actually looking out the window, but rather, he was staring at his reflection in glass, which was incredibly strange because Allen was not a big fan of his reflection. And if that weren't weird enough, he was sitting with his chin resting in his left palm, and the black fingers of his Innocence were running back and forth across his cheek, tracing the line of his scar.

I had planned to leave him alone when I saw where he was, but I was so unnerved by his out of character actions that I had to interrupt him. I needed to make sure he was ok. "What's wrong, Moyashi?"

When he didn't respond, I reached down and tweaked the tip of his tail. His ears twitched, springing from their drooped position and dislodging Timcanpy from his perch as the Moyashi finally pulled out of his thoughts. "Hmm?"

He blinked a few times as he turned his gaze away from his reflection, the slight panic on his face calming to a gentle smile as he finally noticed that it was me who wanted his attention. "... Oh. Nothing's wrong. Why would you think that?"

I sat gently beside him and wrapped him in a comforting embrace, my hands joining his on his bulging stomach. "I've been trying to get your attention for the last ten minutes. You were really out of it."

Allen sighed heavily, leaning closer to me and returning his gaze to the window. "I was just thinking about something Komui said a few weeks ago. About passing my curse to the baby... ... Do you ... do you think it's possible?"

He suddenly looked up at me, his silver eyes full of insecurity. The question confused me, as we already knew that the baby was a neko, but that feeling faded quickly when he clarified the question. "Is it possible that our daughter inherited my ability to see the souls of the akuma?"

My blood ran cold at the thought. It was more than a little terrifying to think that our daughter might be cursed like her mother was. I had never seen an akuma soul myself, but Lavi hadn't hesitated to share every detail of his experience with me, and while I suspected that he was embellishing the story, I knew his horror was genuine, and that made it something _I_ never wanted to see, much less have my child see.

Allen continued to stare expectantly at me, and that just made me feel worse. I didn't know what to say in response to his question. Was he wanting me to try to calm him down or did he want an honest answer? "That's a question for Komui, Moyashi."

He immediately pouted at me. But before he could shout at me for deflecting his question, I tightened my hold on him and kissed his temple. "Yes. I do think it's possible."

The body in my arms stiffened at those words and I immediately knew that I had chosen wrong; the Moyashi had wanted comfort not honesty. But it was too late now. "Based on everything else that has happened with your pregnancy, I think that it's not only possible that she inherited both of your curses, but it's incredibly likely that that's what happened. But that's just my opinion. Which is why you should talk to Komui about it. He'll either know or he'll be able to do some test that will figure it out, and then we'll know one way or the other and you'll be able to stop stressing about it."

Allen's hurt and anger faded as I talked, but he still made a face at me when I was finished. "You were supposed to tell me that it's ok and that'll you'll love her either way, but I guess this works."

He pushed himself up with a heavy sigh, and I caught his wrist as he started to walk away from me. "Where are you going, Moyashi?"

He turned back and gave me a look that said he thought I was an idiot. "To talk to Komui."

"Right now?" I blinked at him. "Can't it wait till morning?"

"Yes, right now." He rolled his eyes at me. "The sooner I talk to him, the sooner I'll have an answer, and the sooner I'll be able to get a handle on what's going on." He sighed and wrapped his arms around my waist, placing his head against my chest. "I'm clearly not going to be able to sleep tonight until I know."

I laughed and kissed the top of his head, but before I could tease him for overthinking things, he had broken the embrace and was walking towards the door. I followed him down to Komui's office, the fact that I was barely managing to keep up with him telling me that he was a lot more stressed than he had let on. And that worried me; at this stage of his pregnancy, that much stress could be very bad for his health.

Komui was fortunately still awake when we arrived, saving us the headache of trying to wake him. As was the norm lately, he completely ignored me and focused all of his attention on the Moyashi; he was still upset with me for not telling him about my involvement in Allen's pregnancy back at the beginning, and he had only gotten more upset when I had had reasonable arguments for my behavior. "Good evening, Allen. Is there something I can help you with?"

"Ah, yeah, umm... I was wondering if you could maybe do some tests on me that would be able to tell us whether or not the baby inherited my curse."

Komui looked as confused as I had felt earlier. "Didn't we cover that at your first ultrasound?"

Allen blushed and shook his head. "No, not the neko one, the other one."

The supervisor sighed and gestured for Allen to sit down, waiting for the pregnant neko to get settled before sitting in his own chair. "I've already done them, Allen."

"What?! Why didn't you say anything?!" I couldn't blame Allen for being angry; I was nowhere near as emotionally invested in this as he was, but it still upset me that Komui had kept something this important to himself.

Surprisingly, Komui remained completely calm in the face of Allen's rage. "Because the answer to your original question is not one you're going to like, Allen. Not a single one of my tests could detect _your_ curse, let alone tell me if your baby inherited it from you. So I didn't tell you I'd done the tests, because I didn't want to put the idea in your head until I had answers for you. Wondering whether or not you passed your akuma curse to your child was only going to stress you out, and I wanted to save you from that." He sighed and adjusted his glasses. "But now that it's out there, you're just going to have to wait until she's older. It's probably going to be years before..."

The way he trailed off put me on edge, but then he suddenly laughed in a way that said he felt incredibly stupid. "Or you could just ask Natasha."

The Moyashi's confusion was written all over his face. "Huh? How would my mother be able to figure it out if none of your tests could?"

"Because there are things magic can do that science can't. And both of your parents are powerful magic users." Seeing that we didn't get it, he explained further. "Back when we were still trying to undo your neko curse, Natasha was able to detect the other one. She might be able to do the same for the baby."

As soon as he said the words, I was kicking myself internally. I remembered that moment vividly, as my fear for my Moyashi kept it ingrained into my memory, and I wondered why I hadn't put that together either.

Allen hadn't moved, so I leaned against the back of his chair and nudged one of his cat ears with my nose. "Well, Moyashi? Looks like all you have to do is call your mother and then you won't have to worry about this anymore."

He sighed heavily and shook his head, finally snapping out of his confusion. "I guess so. But is this really worth bothering her over? She's so busy."

I snorted at that. "I may not care for the woman, Moyashi, but I do know that if she heard you now, she'd say that nothing was more important than helping you. She'd drop everything to come and she would never even think about it not being worth her time. I know how stressed you are about this. Just call her and then you'll have your answer."

Allen frowned in thought for a moment before he shook his head. "No. This really isn't all that important. It can wait."

Before I could argue with him, he pushed himself out of his chair and left the room. I watched him go, and then I turned to Komui. "I know what he said, but go ahead and call her. By the time she gets here, he'll have changed his mind. Besides, I'm pretty sure that he wants her here for the wedding, so you're going to have to call her for that anyway."

"Kanda-"

I scowled at Komui as I cut him off. "And if that's not good enough then do it because it's my baby, and I deserve a say in this too. I want to know."

I turned on my heel and left, only to stop abruptly when I saw the Moyashi waiting for me at the end of the hall. It was obvious from his body language that he'd heard me go behind his back, and I was instantly on edge and ready for trouble. But all Allen did was smile sadly at me. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have made that decision without you. I-"

"Moyashi. You don't have to apologize. I am also in the wrong for going behind your back." Moving on from the awkward subject, I sighed and pulled him close to me. "I just want to know why you're suddenly being so weird about your mother. You two were inseparable the last time she was here."

He turned bright red and dropped his gaze to the floor. "She sent me a letter last week."

That piqued my curiosity immediately, and I was prepared to pull the information out of him if I had to, but the Moyashi didn't stop there. "Cross asked her to marry him. She wants my blessing before she gives him her answer."

That was far from what I expected to hear, but while I wanted to hear more about that, I also knew that Allen was trying to change the subject, and that was not something I was going to put up with. "So this is about Cross then."

He nodded once, hiding his eyes behind his bangs.

I raised an eyebrow at the incomplete answer. "He still doesn't know you're pregnant."

Allen nodded again. "That's what Natasha said in her letter. She wants us to talk in person." His melancholy mood suddenly morphed into a fierce scowl. "And before you get all high and mighty on me, you haven't told Teidoll yet, so you're in no position to lecture me about that."

The sudden anger caught me off guard; this was something Allen really did not want to talk about. I wasn't ready to drop it though, as the mention of my former teacher had pushed my buttons. "Maybe. But Teidoll isn't biologically related to me, so there's quite a difference there. Besides, you know what he's like around kids - he'll be more annoying to you than he will be to me."

Before Allen could storm off, I pulled him into a hug and began rubbing his ear; I had gotten my frustration out of my system and was now ready to offer him some reassurance. "I really don't understand why you're so scared of Cross finding out you're pregnant. He already knows you're gay, and it was _his_ idea for us to sleep together. He will give you crap about getting pregnant, because that's the type of person he is, but he's not going to mean any of it. He loved you like a son long before he found out that you actually were his son."

Allen frowned at me, clearly torn between wanting to believe what I'd said and his fear towards the man who had trained him. "How would _you_ know that?"

I flicked his ear. "Because he told me, idiot." The way he stared at me in response was priceless; it almost looked like his eyes were going to pop out of his head. So I flicked his ear once more. "You were unconscious for hours after Natasha cursed you; Cross told me a lot of things about his history with you. I'm sure none of it has changed in the last year."

Allen continued to frown at me, but then he turned bright red and buried his face in my shirt. "Oh god. He told you about what happened after I tried to bring Mana back, didn't he?"

I scowled down at him, even more confused by his behavior than I was before. "If you already know what I've been trying to tell you, then what's really going on?"

He sighed and pulled me into our room, which I was surprised to see that we'd reached. Another sigh and then he crossed his arms over his chest and glared at me. "Were you not listening earlier?! He proposed to her! I'm about to have a baby and my parents are going to get married! That's not the way it's supposed to work!"

In that moment, it suddenly clicked. Allen didn't really have a problem with any of this. He was just so emotionally overloaded from his pregnancy that he thought he did. "You're overthinking things again, Moyashi."

His scowl deepened, so I grabbed him and pulled him down on the couch with me. I wrapped an arm around him and began rubbing his ear. "No one cares about any of that. Just like no one cared that Cross turned out to be your father. From an outside perspective, it's actually _less_ creepy that your father is dating your mother than it was back when they thought that your general was dating her. Yes, it's going to be weird for everyone to learn that Cross wants to get married, but that's for him to worry about; you may be his son and he may be marrying your mother, but none of this actually has anything to do with you. You should just focus on the baby, and on _our_ wedding, and let your parents do whatever it is they want - just like you've been doing for the last ten months."


	32. Chapter 32

A/N: I was planning to use your reviews on the last chapter to determine something that happens in _this_ one, but you guys let me down and didn't comment on the thing I wanted you to comment on. So I guess that means that I actually have to decide which way that thing goes all by myself… Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

It was no coincidence that Kanda was out on a mission the day that Malcom C. Leverrier decided to visit the headquarters of the Black Order. He may have once had the power to keep the samurai in line, but now that the Japanese man was expecting a child, he had no clue whether or not his old tactics would still work, and he had no desire to find out; especially when the purpose of his visit was to meet with the samurai's mate.

Allen was blissfully unaware of Leverrier's arrival at headquarters, but when he answered his door to find Howard Link on the other side of it, he knew exactly what was going on. And now that it had happened, it seemed glaringly obvious that Leverrier would want to talk to him in person.

The neko followed his former stalker down to Komui's office. They walked in silence for a bit before a grin broke out across Allen's face. "So Link, how does it feel knowing that you spent all that time sharing a room with a gay man?"

Link just smiled at the words that were meant to tease him and make him feel uncomfortable. "I knew all along, Walker. After all, not many teenage boys get off to dreams of being fucked by men they claim to hate."

Allen blushed bright red, but he managed to keep himself from spluttering. Instead, he held in his embarrassment and disbelief, collecting himself and facing the blond man with genuine respect. "Then I guess I owe you a thank you for not saying anything. It means-"

"That is not necessary." Link hurried to cut the younger off before he got too sentimental. "I only kept it quiet because those dreams had nothing to do with why I was supervising you. However, had you actually been sleeping with him back then, I assure you that I would have reported it. So save your gratitude for someone who deserves it."

Allen shook his head. "I disagree. Central was searching for any excuse to lock me up back then, and outing me as a homosexual would have made your job incredibly easy. So it means quite a lot to me that you didn't."

Not wanting to argue with a pregnant person and not wanting to continue with the uncomfortable conversation, Link chose not to respond. The pair fell silent again, only speaking once more before reaching their destination, when Allen had to stop and use the restroom.

Komui sat at his desk, trying his hardest to convince Leverrier that he didn't need to be there, but the secretary wasn't listening to a single word the supervisor said. Leverrier had many motives for wanting to speak with Allen in person, and one of those was that he didn't trust Komui to properly relay Central's demands to the neko.

Komui stopped talking when Link let Allen into the office, the inspector choosing to wait in the hallway. Knowing why he was there, Allen ignored the greetings of both men until he was comfortably situated on the couch. Leverrier watched the pregnant neko with disgust, repulsed by both the bulge of his belly and the knowledge that the teen was homosexual.

Looking up at Leverrier, Allen suddenly realized that he had the perfect excuse for being as rude as he wanted to the man; any improper behavior on his part could easily be blamed on his pregnancy hormones, which actually were fueling the irritation he felt, so it technically wouldn't be a lie. "Can we get this over with? You woke me from a very important nap."

The blatant disregard for his authority both startled and enraged Leverrier, who was used to dealing with a much more acquiescent Allen, and it took a lot of self-control to keep the neko from seeing that he'd succeeded at rattling him. "I see you are still unmarried, Walker."

Allen rolled his eyes at the comment and crossed his arms over his chest. "Unfortunately, there are women here who insist that we have a proper ceremony. And since one of them is Komui's little sister, and we can't risk upsetting her, we have to do what they want. We've set the date for Sunday the seventh. That's more than two months before the date of my surgery, so it'll be done long before the baby arrives, which, if I'm remembering correctly, is exactly what you wanted. So, skip the lecture and tell me why you're here."

This was it, the moment Leverrier had been waiting for. Allen had just given him the opening he needed to circumvent the council's decision. It was true that the neko was a proven flight risk and they'd lose not just one, but _three_ critical breakers - as well as their Noah ally and possibly as much as half of the Order's personnel - if he fled again, but the decision to do whatever it takes to keep the teen from running away again was one that Leverrier couldn't live with. The boy needed to be punished for his sins. So together with some other council members who hated homosexuality as much as he did, he hatched a plan to make the neko miserable, all while making Allen think that it was the work of the council. "I am here to talk to you about what is going to happen after your pregnancy."

The words sent a chill of apprehension down Allen's spine, but he masked his fear with a level scowl. "Komui's already told me you've revoked my lieutenant general status."

At the mention of his name, Komui spoke up on Allen's behalf. "And unless there's been a change that I was not informed of, that's-"

Ignoring the supervisor, Leverrier scowled at the neko on the couch. "You are carrying an Innocence compatible child, Walker." It took a lot of work for Leverrier to keep a straight face and not refer to the baby by a slur that would give away his true feelings towards the matter. "And as such, it is your duty to repeat this event."

Allen didn't get it, but Komui did and he was furious. He slammed his hands down on his desk and got to his feet. "Secretary Leverrier! This is not what we discussed earlier!"

Once again, his protests were ignored. Leverrier smirked smugly at Allen, enjoying the fact that the neko looked completely oblivious about what was coming next. "As soon as your pregnancy has finished, you are to do it again. Your orders from this point on are to bear as many new accommodators as you possibly can."

The second he understood what was happening, Allen's blank look morphed into a furious glare. He managed to keep from physically lashing out, but it took a little longer to get his voice to work. "Hell no! Central can't order me to get pregnant again because we don't even know if it's _possible_ for me to get pregnant again. And even if it is possible, there's still no guarantee that any future children I have will be Innocence compatible. And perhaps I should have started with this, but I _won't_ do it. If I get pregnant again after this, it'll be because _I_ decide I want another child, not because anyone told me to do it. End of discussion."

He worked his way to his feet, intending to leave on that dramatic note, but he was interrupted by the door being flung open as a frantic Reever ran into the room. "Chief Komui! General Cross is in the entrance hall!"

Komui briefly considered staying for Allen's safety, but after what he'd just witnessed, the neko was clearly perfectly fine on his own, so he followed after his subordinate. Finally left alone, Leverrier scowled at Allen, trying to come up with a response for what the neko had declared before the interruption. But Allen wasn't paying any attention to the other man. He may have been scared to face his father, but given the choice, he'd much rather deal with Cross than Leverrier, so he decided to act like a proper son and go greet his parents.

Just before leaving the room, Allen turned back to Leverrier, hoping that the man was upset enough to ignore the warning he was about to give. "Do yourself a favor: don't piss off my parents."

Allen arrived in the entrance hall to find Komui talking to Natasha while Cross watched with a scowl on his face. The general was less than thrilled to be back at headquarters, but Natasha had insisted that he needed to speak with Allen in person, so he had allowed her to drag him along. He wasn't happy about it, but the visit proved worth it the second he laid eyes on the neko. The way Allen's stomach bulged out from the rest of his body could only be caused by one thing, and it greatly amused Cross that the idiot had gotten himself pregnant.

But that amusement did not last long.

Allen, still irritated from his encounter with Leverrier, caught the way Cross' face lit up ever so slightly upon seeing his condition, and he couldn't resist making a jab at the redhead. "I see you're happy to learn that you're going to be a grandfather."

That word killed Cross' mirth in an instant, simultaneously making him feel old and reminding him of their biological relationship, but that didn't mean that he still couldn't poke fun at the idiot. "And I see you've forgotten everything I've ever taught you."

Allen frowned as he placed a hand on his belly, feeling incredibly guilty under Cross' accusatory stare. He didn't have a witty retort, but that didn't matter, as at that moment Natasha finally noticed him and pulled him into a tight hug.

He may have been reluctant to call her, but now that she was there, Allen could only be glad to see her. Being held in his mother's arms was second only to Kanda's embrace; she made him feel safe and loved, and he could only hope that his own child would feel the same way about him.

Ending the hug, Natasha grabbed Allen's shoulders as she stepped back to get a better look at him. "You've gotten so big. The baby must be doing well. Is it kicking yet?"

"She." Allen didn't get to say any more than that, as they were interrupted by the arrival of Link and Leverrier, but Natasha knew what he meant and was very disappointed that she didn't get the chance to react to learning that her grandchild was a girl.

As soon as he stepped through the door, Leverrier was clearing his throat to get their attention. "We're not finished, Walker."

Allen scowled at the man. "No. I'm done listening to you."

"That is not your call. You will listen until I've said everything I have to say." Leverrier crossed his arms and glared at the impertinent teenager. "We still have many things to discuss regarding your future pregnancies."

Natasha and Cross were both immediately on edge at hearing that, but while he chose to wait for more information, she jumped right into the conversation. "Excuse me?"

Leverrier shot her a glare that was meant to shut her up, not knowing or caring who she was, which only served to piss her off more. He turned his gaze back to Allen; if the neko wasn't going to cooperate, then they were going to have this discussion in public. "As I said earlier, Walker, you are an apostle of God, and as such, it is your duty to do everything in your power to further our cause. Which in your case means bearing more accommodators until the day comes when you are physically unable to continue to do so."

The room was silent for a second before Natasha exploded, beating everyone else to the punch. It no longer mattered that she didn't know who this man was; he was clearly a threat to her son and she was going to do something about it. "Who the hell do you think you are, talking to my son like that?!"

What followed was a string of threats and swear words so intense and terrifying that Leverrier fled the room, but not before completely breaking down and sobbing like a baby. It would later be revealed that this mental breakdown led to the council discovering what he had tried to do that day - as well as the many other indiscretions he had committed over the years - and Leverrier was placed on indefinite administrative leave where he could no longer terrorize the exorcists.

Before following after his boss, Link shot Allen a disapproving look, but the neko just shrugged. "I warned him not to do that."

After the men from Central left, and Natasha had calmed down, Komui excused himself, giving Allen some time alone with his parents. The neko glanced shyly at Cross, only to find his gaze focused on Natasha. The general had no clue what to make of her recent behavior, and he was quite unsure whether or not he should be upset over her hiding things from him. "You knew? About _that_?"

Allen bristled at the way Cross gestured at him. "Hey!"

His annoyance at being referred to in such a way was ignored. Natasha sighed and shook her head at Cross. "Don't give me that look, dear. Yes, I knew he was pregnant. But it wasn't my place to tell you. Besides, I'm sure that I was only told because it was my spell that made this possible. This whole thing is just one big accident."

This time Cross' scowl was directed at Allen. "That's why he should have been using protection!"

Disliking having that thrown in his face, as it was one of the main reasons why he was upset about having gotten pregnant in the first place, Allen matched Cross' scowl. "We would have if we'd known this was possible. We had no clue that we needed to prevent pregnancy."

"That's no excuse! You should have been using protection anyway."

Allen knew what he meant, after years of lectures there was no way he couldn't, but he didn't understand how that connected to this situation. "Why? It's not like I was going to catch anything from him. Kanda's immune to those sorts of things."

Knowing all of the Order's deepest darkest secrets, Cross knew exactly what Allen was referring to, but he wasn't about to admit that the neko had a point. However, before he could say anything, Natasha was placing a hand on his arm and holding him back. "Go a little easier on him, dear. If there's one thing we all know, it's that protection doesn't always work."

While they had only been meant to calm Cross down, her words killed the whole conversation. They stood in silence for a bit before Allen decided he'd had enough of the awkwardness and changed the subject. "Anyway... we called you because we've been trying to figure out whether or not the baby inherited my ability to see the souls of akuma. And we remembered that you were able to detect my curse, Mum, so we were hoping that you could... do it again? Maybe?"

Understanding immediately, Natasha stepped closer and placed a hand on Allen's baby bump. Her hand glowed blue for a moment as she whispered some words in a language he couldn't understand. When the light faded, she smiled happily at Allen and moved her hand from his belly to his ear. "That's one strong-willed little girl you've got in there. She did _not_ want me to examine her."

Allen smiled at the teasing tone, not understanding what she was truly telling him. But Cross got it, and wanting to confirm it for himself, he quickly repeated her earlier actions. Allen was instantly on edge at feeling Cross' hand on his belly, but Natasha's gentle smile and her fingers on his ear calmed him down.

Cross scowled down at the panicked look on Allen's face when he finished his spell. "Relax, idiot. She didn't inherit your curse. But she is going to be a rather powerful magic user someday, if you train her right."

.x.x.

~Outside Munich~

As was typical for a general traveling around and searching for new accommodators, General Teidoll had run into a horde of akuma. A group that size would have been incredibly easy with his full team of apprentices, but having only Marie and Miranda at his side made it admittedly harder.

Invoking her Innocence, Miranda moved quickly to shield Teidoll from an attack he hadn't seen coming. Safe inside her time bubble, she laughed at the man's unusual recklessness. "Careful, General. You have to survive long enough to be a grandfather."

She smiled at the joke, but it fell into a deep embarrassment when she realized what she'd just let slip. Teidoll blinked up at the flustered German woman, misunderstanding what she had just told him. "You're pregnant?"

Miranda only grew more flustered, not knowing how to explain the situation without telling him things she'd promised to keep secret. "N-no! I'm n-not! It's-"

Coming to his wife's rescue, Marie decided that six months was more than enough time for the boys to have gotten their act together. "Kanda knocked up his lover".

If Marie could see, he would have loved the way that Teidoll's eyes grew wide with disbelief. The general didn't doubt that what he'd been told was true - Kanda was incredibly secretive when it came to his personal life - but it seemed so unlikely that the samurai would have found a woman who would put up with him, much less procreate with him, that Teidoll couldn't believe his ears. Unfortunately, he didn't have the time to process the information, as the akuma once again demanded his attention.

It came as no surprise to the two accompanying him that the second the battle was over, General Teidoll announced that it was time to return to headquarters.


	33. Chapter 33

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews. This chapter was a pain to write, but with it, the sequel is now longer than the original. :) Hopefully you enjoy it.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

Today was apparently a day meant to stress me out in every possible way. First, there was that meeting with Leverrier, and then my parents showed up without notice. Even with Natasha's help, it took forever to explain my pregnancy to Cross and calm him down. Of course, bringing up my upcoming wedding changed the subject to _their_ upcoming wedding, and that was even worse than talking about myself. I felt better as I realized that they had no plans and no date set, but what really put me at ease was that their tentative date was _years_ away. They were only getting engaged and had no intention of getting married any time soon.

Just when it felt like everything was calming down, there was a pounding knock at my door. I kicked myself for being so distracted that I didn't hear anyone approaching, but that feeling quickly subsided as whoever it was continued to knock like they were trying to break the door down. Being so pregnant, getting to my feet was a pain, and it apparently took too long for the impatient visitor. "I know you're in there, Allen! Open the damn door!"

I froze at the sound of Emilia's voice. She wasn't anywhere near who I expected to be at the door. I had no clue why she wanted to see me, but that cluelessness faded when she continued to shout. "I'm not going to let you quit on me!"

She was pissed because I'd missed our reading lesson. I hurried to the door as quickly as I could in order to make the noise stop, opening the door to reveal a blonde woman who looked as irate as she sounded. I was very careful to block the gap with my body so that Cross and Natasha wouldn't see what was going on; I absolutely did not want them to find out why Emilia was there. "Sorry, Emilia. Something came up and I forgot all about our meeting. Do you mind-"

She glared at my attempt to turn her away politely, and instead of waiting, shoved her way into the room. I tried to mask my embarrassment, but I knew it was futile, as both my parents always seemed to know when I was lying. To her credit, Emilia halted in her tracks the moment she saw that I wasn't alone; she blushed in embarrassment, but held her ground.

Cross shot me a fierce scowl blended with a knowing look. It was quite obvious that he thought I was having an affair with Emilia. "And what is _she_ doing here?"

Before I could set him straight - not that he'd have believed me if I'd tried - Emilia spoke up. "Allen skipped his lesson, so I came to get him."

Her vague explanation only seemed to further convince Cross that we were sleeping together, and I was quick to fill in the blanks, being very careful to not look at Natasha as I did so. "She's teaching me how to read."

As I expected, that immediately set my mother off; she was understandably pissed that I hadn't learned to read until I was an adult. Fortunately, it was Cross who she aimed her fury at, which saved me a whole lot of embarrassment, but it was still painful to watch her go off on him for not raising me properly.

He defended himself, and as they started yelling at each other, it occurred to me that I didn't have to try to stop them. This was something they needed to work out on their own, without any interference from me. So I pulled Emilia out of the room and we walked down to the library to have our lesson.

When I returned to my room an hour later, Cross and Natasha had calmed down and were back on good terms. I was happy for them, but a selfish part of me wished that they hadn't worked it out. As such, dinner that night was horribly embarrassing for me. It was the first time all three of us had sat down for a meal together, and while everyone else left us alone, they were still talking about it. And because I was a neko, I could hear all the gossip and whispers - every single word of it - and it was incredibly uncomfortable.

I was ready to call it a day and go straight to bed. But I would get next to no sleep that night.

Kanda had run into trouble on his mission and wouldn't be coming home, leaving me to sleep alone in our bed where my thoughts alternated between missing him and worrying about him. It was a horribly stressful way to end an incredibly stressful day.

.x.x.

My mission had not gone well. Instead of being a quick trip to get away from headquarters and clear my head, I had run into a group of low level akuma, and in the process of destroying them, I had ended up in a town without an ark gate. It was too dark by that point to return to the gate I'd used that morning, and I was forced to stay the night there. Fortunately, the rundown inn actually had a phone and I was able to call the Moyashi and tell him I wouldn't make it home until the next day. I normally wouldn't have cared to call over a one night absence, but Allen had enough to worry about between his pregnancy and the drama with his parents' engagement, and I did not want to stress him out further by making him worry unnecessarily about me.

Needless to say, when I finally did get home, I was in a bad mood. And my annoyance and irritation were only made worse when I was accosted by Timcanpy the second I stepped out of the ark gate.

The little golden thing fluttered in my face for a moment before grabbing my jacket and pulling on the fabric. He was clearly trying to get me to follow him, but I wasn't having any of that. I ignored him and made my way towards the room I shared with my Moyashi.

Timcanpy didn't stop pestering me though. The closer I got to the room, the more emphatically he tried to make me stop and go the opposite direction. It was annoying and I swatted him away, but he just continued to try to keep me from reaching my room. I put zero thought into why he was acting that way, and it wasn't until I opened the door to find Cross waiting for me that I realized that Timcanpy had been trying to warn me and wasn't just being a nuisance.

But I was prepared for this meeting. I may not have expected it to happen right then, but I knew that I was going to have to speak to this man eventually. I closed the door and leaned back against it as I scowled at Cross. "You can't smoke in here. It's bad for the Moyashi, and I won't stand for you filling his living space with toxins."

To my surprise, he didn't argue with my demand. He simply flicked his cigarette to Timcanpy and continued to glare at me. I didn't need to see that look to know that he'd been informed of Allen's condition - his mere presence in our room had confirmed that - so it was rather obvious why he was upset with me. But the first words out of his mouth contradicted that thought. "I know you're not the gentleman Allen pretends to be, but I'd have thought that Teidoll would have at least taught you _some_ manners. Weren't you going to ask for my permission first?"

I knew exactly what he was referring to, and while I was surprised that his first concern was our engagement, I couldn't help snorting at the comment. "Why? It was your idea for us to get together in the first place, so I didn't see the need to ask for your permission to marry him. I assumed I already had it." Unable to resist the urge to taunt him back, I tacked on, "Unless you've decided you want to be a proper father, I don't see why my relationship with your son suddenly bothers you."

He snarled at the comment, but before he could retort back at me, I sighed and tried to make nice. For the Moyashi's sake, antagonizing Cross was something I shouldn't do, so I decided to be as calm and rational as I possibly could. "Look, I proposed when he told me he was pregnant. If you're really upset about manners and doing things right, then that truly was the proper way to do it and there's no reason for you to be upset. The only reason for you to demand an apology out of me is if you're being selfish. And I really hope you're not that petty."

Cross was silent for a moment, and that put me on edge. Silence was never good when dealing with Cross. It meant he was thinking, and that was a very bad thing to be on the receiving end of.

Just waiting for him to speak was agonizing, and I briefly wondered if he was doing it on purpose. But when he finally spoke, I knew he truly was just deciding on the best way to come at me. "Aren't you only twelve years old? Don't you think you're a little too young to be a father?"

He clearly got a kick out of the look on my face. However, my retort was cut off by a rather loud bang. The door behind me opened just a fraction before being slammed closed because I was leaning against it. The loud thunk was followed by a groan that I immediately recognized. I quickly moved aside and opened the door, hoping the Moyashi hadn't been hurt too badly.

Allen was rubbing his shoulder, his cat ears lying flat against his head, but the smile he gave me said that he was only startled. It fell in a heartbeat though as he turned to face his father. He fixed Cross with a scowl that was surprisingly fierce given how scared he was of his former teacher. "I thought you agreed to leave Kanda alone."

The unspoken threat made Cross laugh. He stood and tousled Allen's hair as he made his way to the door. "Alright, alright. I've had my fun. There's no need for you to get huffy."

Allen continued to glare at him even after he had closed the door behind him. Taking advantage of the neko's distraction, I used this opportunity to ogle him without getting yelled at for it. It had only been two days since I'd last seen him, but looking at him now, that felt like forever.

I looked him up and down, tracing the curves of his body with my eyes. The Moyashi's pregnant body was absolutely gorgeous, from the way his stomach bulged out in front of him, to the fullness of his ass and the softness of his face. I even loved the way his chest had filled out over the past couple weeks, though I knew better than to say that part out loud, as that would only earn me a black eye; the fact that his body was preparing for lactation was something that Allen was far from happy about.

Wrapping my arms around him from behind, I placed my hands on his belly as I kissed the top of his head. Allen sighed heavily as he leaned back against me. The annoyance he felt was obvious in his voice. "One week… If they'd have just come _one_ week later, we'd have been married and we wouldn't have had to deal with that."

I disagreed - Cross would have been a million times _worse_ if we were already married - but before I could say as much, Allen sighed again and smiled happily up at me. "On the other hand, Natasha made Leverrier _cry_ yesterday, and I wouldn't have missed that for anything."

I froze at the mention of that bastard. "Leverrier was here?"

Allen nodded, turning in my arms and laying his head on my shoulder. "He was. He tried to pull something awful on me, but he made the mistake of doing it in front of my mother. It's going to be quite a while before we see him again."

"Good." We stood there in silence for a bit. I was enjoying having Allen in my arms, and I was feeling very grateful to Natasha for keeping it that way. "I missed you, Moyashi."

The words embarrassed me, but the small drop of liquid on my shoulder kept me from regretting them; Allen sniffled as he tried to hold back the rest of his tears. I disliked saying such sentimental things, but I loved the effect they had on the Moyashi - especially while he was pregnant and had no control over his emotions. Grabbing his chin, I moved his head so that I could reach his lips. As we kissed, he pulled me towards our bedroom.


	34. Chapter 34

A/N: As always, thanks for the reviews. I very much appreciate them. :)

To Matharose111612: Teidoll _was_ supposed to show up last chapter, but it got way too long to be one chapter, so I had to split it before he arrived.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

General Teidoll was a man on a mission. He was overjoyed at learning Kanda was starting a family of his own, but above everything else, he wanted to confirm it with his own eyes, hence the trip back to headquarters. No matter how much he had pestered Marie and Miranda, they wouldn't tell him anything more than that Kanda was expecting a child; Teidoll was disappointed, of course, but he understood that they had been sworn to secrecy and wouldn't break that promise. As a result, he was dying of curiosity towards the mother's identity.

He'd had some time to think during their travels back to headquarters, and he was pretty sure that he'd figured out who the girl in question was. It wasn't hard; after all, there weren't many women at the Order, and there were even fewer who Kanda had allowed to get close to him. Lenalee was the most obvious choice, as she and Kanda had been close friends since childhood, but it clearly wasn't her, as Komui would have flipped out if she'd gotten pregnant. Which left the only other woman Kanda had gotten close to: Camilla. The samurai may not have known her for very long, but as his apprentice, she shared a special bond with him; and given how close they were in age, Teidoll reasoned that it wouldn't be at all unusual for a man and a woman in that position to have crossed the line and turned that bond into something else entirely.

It may have been against the rules, but Teidoll wholeheartedly supported the match. And not just because he loved Kanda like a son and would have accepted whoever he chose to be with. Teidoll genuinely believed that Camilla was a good fit for the samurai.

When they finally reached headquarters, Teidoll followed Marie and Miranda to the cafeteria, not knowing that the person they were looking for was actually the same person he was wanting to see. He was so hung up on finding Camilla that it never even occurred to him that the pair would lead him to the true mother of Kanda's child. As predicted, both Allen and Camilla were in the dining hall, along with Krory and Timothy, and all four parasite-types were seated at a table together and stuffing their faces.

While Marie and Miranda went to greet their comrades, Teidoll paused in the doorway. He'd found the person he was looking for, but now that he could see her, he knew that the Italian woman was not who he was actually needing to find. Marie may not have told him much, but he did let it slip that the mother of Kanda's child was more than six months along, which meant that she'd be visibly pregnant. And Camilla was definitely _not_ pregnant.

Teidoll was more than a little disappointed by that development, and he quickly set about looking around the rest of the cafeteria, hoping to find the woman Kanda had knocked up. Yet the only visibly pregnant person around was ... Allen Walker?

Teidoll did a double take as he turned his attention back to the neko. The young man's stomach bulged out in front of him, making it look like he was with child. In fact, the illusion was so convincing that anyone who didn't know he was a male would have been convinced that he was pregnant. Teidoll briefly wondered what had happened to make Allen gain so much weight, but he had other priorities and pushed the though aside to concentrate on finding Kanda's lover.

Meanwhile, Marie and Miranda had sat down beside Allen. While Miranda babbled incoherently about how excited she was to see Allen again, Marie placed a gentle hand on Allen's shoulder. "Do you mind if I touch your belly?"

Allen frowned at the request, remembering what had happened the last time someone he wasn't related to had touched his baby bump. But Marie sensed his reluctance, and even though he didn't know the reasons why Allen didn't want to be touched, he was quick to explain what he was thinking and put the other at ease. "It's ok if you say no, Allen. Since I can't see, I rely on touch to fill in the gaps. But if you're uncomfortable then I can find a different way to satisfy my curiosity."

Allen shook his head, trying to force himself to relax. "I'm not particularly uncomfortable with it; it's just that ... my inner cat feels like the baby's being threatened when people touch my belly, so it lashes out. Last time it happened, I sent Lavi to the infirmary and he now has a permanent scar on his face. If you really want to touch it, then feel free to do so. I just don't want to hurt you."

The words made Marie smile; it was so very much like Allen to put others before himself like that, and he couldn't help wondering how _Kanda_ had managed to attract someone so selfless. He moved his hand down to the neko's belly, spreading his fingers out across the taut skin.

Allen flinched at the contact, but when he didn't feel the need to hit the other man, he relaxed. He briefly wondered why he hadn't hurt Marie like he had the others, but he chalked that up to the fact that the blind man had asked for permission first.

Marie was awestruck by what he felt, his sensitive hands picking up the movement of the child inside Allen's belly, even though she wasn't actively kicking. It was a truly beautiful feeling. He smiled wistfully at the neko, trying to keep his tears at bay. "I don't usually regret being blind, but this is one of those times that I miss my eyesight. I really wish that I could see you right now. I still can't believe that you're actually carrying Kanda's child."

Allen laughed uncomfortably at the comment. "Oh? And what are some of the other things you wish you could see?"

His attempt to change the subject backfired. Marie laughed lightly. "Kanda, for starters. I was blinded before I met him, so I've never seen what he looks like. I hear that he's supposedly incredibly attractive and that just doesn't mesh with how I picture him; he's still just a gawky teenager to me." He laughed before turning a smirk on Allen. "The time I walked in on the two of you in bed together is pretty high on the list too."

While Allen blushed bright red and tried to stutter out a denial, Camilla snorted and rolled her eyes at Marie. "As someone who's seen that, I can tell you that you're not missing anything."

Everyone laughed, making Allen blush even deeper. Hearing the laughter coming from the exorcists' table, Teidoll decided to give up on his quest for the moment and go greet the others. As the general started walking their way, Allen cocked an ear at Marie. He had expected Teidoll to be freaking out over him, and the fact that he was acting so calm was severely confusing. He made sure to keep his voice low so that the approaching general wouldn't hear him. "How much does Teidoll know?"

Marie smiled at the question and whispered back. "Not much. He knows that Kanda is going to be a father, but he doesn't know you're involved."

Allen nodded once in response then smiled brightly up at Teidoll. "Good afternoon, General. Welcome back."

"Thank you, Allen." Teidoll's bright smile faded to one that was awkward and tense as he got a better look at the neko. Now that he was closer, the young man was even more obviously pregnant than he was from a distance. "How are you? You look- ... You're- ..."

When Teidoll stumbled over his words, Allen smiled softly and supplied the answers to his unasked questions. "I'm twenty nine weeks pregnant. The baby's due in January."

Teidoll could only blink stupidly at him in response, the same way everyone had when they first heard the news. "But you're male."

Allen nodded sadly and rubbed his hand along his belly. Even after six months, this part was still painful to explain. "Yes, but I'm not human."

The words made everyone at the table freeze. Even those who knew what Allen had meant by the comment were stunned by his word choice. Miranda was almost in tears and Krory had gone deathly pale as Teidoll questioned the comment. Allen may not have been one of his apprentices, but the general held a soft spot for all of the exorcists, and Allen in particular had always caught his attention; the boy had had an unfairly hard life, and this was yet another thing to worry about him over. "'Not human'? How are you not human?"

"Well, the short answer is that I'm a neko." He sighed heavily, absently moving his hand from his belly to his tail. "The long answer is that because the baby is also a neko, Central has decided that neko is a separate species from human."

Someone nearby snorted sarcastically. "Whose bright idea was _that_?"

Allen sighed heavily once more. "Komui's."

While the others recoiled in shock towards the unexpected answer, Allen was quick to stand up for the supervisor. "The alternative was being executed for being homosexual, so while this is far from ideal, it's definitely the better choice."

The others tried to argue with him, but Allen was no longer listening, as Kanda had finally chosen to come join them. The samurai froze in the doorway the second he laid his eyes on Teidoll, and the fact that the general was with Allen made the urge to run away even harder to ignore. Seeing that Kanda was ready to bolt, Allen fixed his fiancé with a very serious scowl. "Don't make me chase after you in my current condition. You won't like what happens when I catch you."

Kanda swallowed hard and forced his feet to move over to where the others were sitting, dreading what was coming next. Teidoll wasn't freaking out, so he knew that the general didn't know about him and Allen yet, but that was going to change very quickly.

General Teidoll began greeting his former apprentice the second he noticed him, but Kanda ignored the old man, focusing instead on the pregnant neko beside him. As a way of payback for the threat he'd made just moments earlier, the second Kanda reached Allen, he captured the boy's lips in a fierce kiss.

This had become a common sight for everyone lately, and they no longer felt the need to react to it, turning their attention back to their food and conversations. But for Teidoll, that kiss was mind-blowing. In witnessing that one simple action, he learned that not only was his son gay, but that it was Allen he had gotten pregnant.

Allen was beet red by the time Kanda let go of him. He glared at the samurai, but it turned to a sheepish smile as Teidoll reclaimed his attention. The general who had been sitting calmly beside him had now engulfed him in a tight hug, nearly knocking him over with the force of it.

Teidoll may not have ever suspected that Kanda was gay, but it was painfully obvious in retrospect that the samurai had feelings for Allen; it was just like Kanda to react violently towards someone he actually cared about. He was unsure of Allen's feelings for Kanda, but the ring on the neko's finger and the child growing in his belly told him that Allen was at least committed to being with Kanda, and that was good enough for now. Teidoll might decide to question him in private at a later time, but right now all that mattered was that he'd finally found the person who was carrying his precious son's child.

Kanda tried to leave while Teidoll was sobbing over Allen, but the neko had caught his wrist with his left hand, and he would have had to break his wrist to get out of the grip of the Moyashi's Innocence. So instead, he just stood there and watched, knowing that it was only a matter of time before Teidoll's attention turned to him.

Before that happened, however, Natasha arrived at the dining hall. She took one look at the frizzy haired man embracing Allen, saw the embarrassment and irritation on the neko's face, and immediately got the wrong impression of the situation. Deciding Allen needed help, she began to make her way towards him.

Though he was trapped and had Teidoll wailing in his ear, Allen's sensitive hearing still picked up the familiar sound of his mother's heeled boots clicking on the stone floor. He smiled at her when he looked up, and it faltered when he saw how angry she looked. But as Teidoll sobbed in his ear once more, Allen realized that Natasha had never met Teidoll before, and from there he was able to piece together why she was so pissed. After what had just happened with Leverrier - and his kidnapping fifteen years earlier - Natasha was especially wary of unknown men in official Order uniforms who got too close to her son, and she had classified Teidoll as a threat.

In an effort to diffuse the situation before anything bad happened, Allen fixed Natasha with his brightest smile, trying to show her that Teidoll was harmless and that he wasn't in any danger. "Hello Mum."

Kanda looked over his shoulder at the Moyashi's words, wondering why he'd chosen _that_ as an attempt to change the subject, but as soon as he saw how completely pissed off Natasha looked, he understood. Swearing under his breath, he hurried to pry Teidoll off the Moyashi. While part of him may have wanted to see what she would do to the general, the part of him that cared about Teidoll won out.

Natasha's glare faltered when she saw Allen smile so brightly at her, and her rage faded to confusion when the stranger let go of him and wrapped Kanda in a bear hug. The samurai sighed wearily, but having Teidoll latching onto him and repeatedly proclaiming how proud he was of him was no longer the worst case scenario. Approaching much more cautiously, Natasha shot Allen a questioning look, but before she could actually say the words, Allen was gesturing for her to take the seat beside him. "That's General Teidoll, Mum. He trained Kanda. He's not usually like this, but he just learned he's going to be a grandfather, so you'll have to give him a break."

Kanda snorted in annoyance. "What are you talking about, Moyashi? The old man is _always_ like this. It's such a pain."

The complaint hit a nerve and Allen snorted in annoyance. "Oh boo-hoo. Your general cares about you. That must be _so_ terrible."

Ignoring the growl Kanda gave him for the sarcasm, Allen smiled impishly at Natasha. "You should probably also know that Teidoll is the reason that Cross doesn't like Kanda."

The words made Natasha laugh, but they pissed Kanda off. "You mean that the only reason that bastard has been giving me such a hard time is because he doesn't want to share grandchildren with Teidoll?!"

While Allen shrugged apologetically at his fiancé, Teidoll had finally calmed down enough to be aware of his surroundings again. He expertly wiped away his tears and smiled at the others like nothing had happened. While Kanda scowled childishly at his general, Allen smiled and formally introduced Natasha to Teidoll.

Ignoring Natasha's outstretched hand, Teidoll wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her into a hug instead. "So you're Allen's mother. I've heard quite a lot about you. I don't know how much of it is true though. Things get blown so out of proportion when you hear them through the grapevine."

Natasha and Teidoll both laughed at the comment, but Allen grumbled darkly under his breath. "No, I'm pretty sure it's all true."

While Teidoll turned a confused gaze on Allen, Natasha blushed in embarrassment. "Then Cross really is dating your mother?"

The neko pointedly avoided looking at either one of them as he responded. "Cross is my biological father."

As he expected, Natasha looked sheepish, as she was aware of how sensitive the subject still was for Allen. But Teidoll burst out laughing, almost falling over as his whole body shook. It had nothing to do with Allen of course; Teidoll simply found it hilarious that Cross not only had a child, but that his apprentice turned out to be said child. The redhead had made fun of his training style for years, and this was more perfect than any revenge Teidoll could have ever planned.


	35. Chapter 35

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Here's some grandparent drama. ;)

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

Given that it was only a few days before my wedding to Kanda, it was not the least bit surprising that General Teidoll chose to stay at headquarters for a while. It was also not surprising that he was more focused on me and my unborn child than he was on Kanda; ever since we'd learned I was pregnant, I had been repeatedly warned that that was how it was going to play out. It was annoying, but I put up with it, as I knew Teidoll was simply too excited to act any other way.

I thought that Yuu would appreciate the break from Teidoll's overbearing father side, but it actually seemed to bother him _more_ that the general was so focused on me. He had gotten some enjoyment out of the bruised ribs I'd given Teidoll for touching my baby bump without permission, but otherwise, Kanda was in an even worse mood than he usually was when Teidoll was around. I tried to make him feel better, but when I learned that his possessive side was angry that someone was monopolizing all of my time, the urge to help him faded. This was something that Kanda had to work through on his own, and I hoped for the sake of our relationship that he did it quickly.

For me, the hardest part about Teidoll's presence was that he was getting along so well with my mother. It wasn't anything inappropriate, they were just two people who were excited to be grandparents, but it still creeped me out. I know that for Natasha it was an opportunity to talk about things that Cross was too uncomfortable to discuss with her, but I wished that they would at least not do it when I was around. Together they were far worse than they were separately. When they weren't fawning over my pregnancy, they were pestering Lenalee and Camilla about the wedding plans.

But even the fact that Teidoll and Natasha were spending too much time together wasn't something I could complain about.

Lenalee had tried to take me out shopping for baby things several times, but I always came up with excuses for not going. Part of it was because I didn't want to be out in public in my condition; going out while being pregnant and very obviously male was just asking for trouble - even more trouble than I'd already get for my white hair, scar, and the fact that I was a neko. But the real problem was that I didn't have the heart to tell Lenalee that I didn't like shopping with her. Sometime after learning I was gay, she had taken that to mean that I was into girly things, and she had tried to turn me into her shopping buddy. So I was stuck between a rock and a hard place, wanting to buy the things my baby needed but unable to do so without horribly offending my best friend.

So when Teidoll and Natasha had taken it upon themselves to go behind my back and furnish the nursery without my knowledge or permission, they were actually solving a major dilemma of mine. It both got me out of going shopping with Lenalee and saved me from having to hurt her feelings; she couldn't be mad at me because the things were gifts from the baby's grandparents. And as an added bonus, Teidoll was an artist, so the nursery actually looked amazing.

However, while I was grateful they'd solved that problem for me, it was right after they finished the nursery that Teidoll and Natasha started arguing.

At first, I was simply thankful that they were no longer getting along so well, but when Cross joined in, I began to worry that I'd be spending the rest of my life trying to make sure my parents and Kanda's weren't in the same room together. It was getting seriously irritating, as they'd be getting along and then they'd all of a sudden be at each other's throats, and I had no clue what had set them off. Plus, it was right around that point that it had finally hit me that I was getting married of Sunday, so my stress levels were already through the roof.

Just when I thought I couldn't take any more, Neah showed up.

He made the fighting worse at first, but instead of getting sucked into their bickering, he dragged me into it. I had been trying to stay out of the fight, hoping they'd resolve the issue themselves, but it turned out that they were never going to be able to solve it on their own.

I went with great reluctance when Neah called for me to join them, and I was even more off put by the irritated way he had his arms crossed over his chest and was glaring at the others. "Come on Allen; just tell them that I'm going to be the baby's godfather so that we can get this over with."

I blinked at the gathered adults in confusion. I couldn't believe that they were arguing over something that ridiculous. "Really? _That's_ what you've been fighting about all week? Which of you are going to be the baby's godparents?"

On the one hand, I was touched that they cared, but on the other, I couldn't believe that the adults in my life were that petty to have been arguing about this for so long without ever asking me about it. These people were supposed to be my role models. "Well you can stop fighting now. Kanda and I decided on that months ago."

" _And_?"

I blanched from the force of the demanded question, knowing that they weren't going to take the answer well. "We've already asked Marie and Miranda to do it."

Teidoll was the first to react to the disappointing news, latching onto Kanda and sobbing into his shoulder. "You'd pick your brother over your father?!"

Kanda's reply required zero thought. "Yes. And you're not my father."

Everyone began talking at once, Teidoll pouting over how mean Kanda was being and the others trying to convince me to change my mind. Having finally had enough, I cleared my throat loudly to make them all shut up. "Listen. You're her _grandparents_. You all already have a special bond with her. You don't need to be her godparents too. Besides, in case you've forgotten, there's a war going on."

As I hoped, they all instantly sobered with that reminder, their expressions changing from offended to chastised. "We have to be prepared for every possibility. If something were to happen to us, we want to know with certainty that she won't end up on the streets like I did."

When I paused to collect myself, Kanda tacked on, "Or in the Order's care."

I shot him an apologetic smile and continued before the conversation could rabbit trail onto the subject of Kanda's history. "So, to keep our options open, we picked godparents who weren't already related to her."

Teidoll smiled and apologized for making a fuss before dragging Kanda off, probably to find Marie and pester _him_ about this whole thing. However, _my_ relatives didn't budge. And I didn't have to see the looks on their faces to know why: they knew I was lying to them. My attempt to make excuses to make them feel better had gone over like a lead balloon. I sighed heavily and eased my pregnant body into the nearest chair. "Don't give me that look, you guys. You can't tell me that you really want to know why we didn't pick you. Can't you just accept the lie for once? There's no need to call me out on it every single time."

I was focused on my belly, trying to calm the baby down after upsetting her with my stress, so I couldn't see their faces as they reacted to my comment. It wasn't something I wanted to see, so it was a bit of a shock that the first reaction I got were fingers caressing my left ear. My mother smiled gently when I looked up at her, then she glared at Cross, grabbed him by the arm, and dragged him from the room.

Left alone with Neah, he immediately started berating me for my choice. Not out loud, of course, meaning my head was suddenly filled with words that I was almost glad he wasn't saying out loud.

I sighed and shook my head, speaking out loud instead of telepathically so that he'd have to listen to me. "She's got a parasitic Innocence, Neah. That's all there is to it. She's going to be an exorcist, and you're a Noah. It's absolutely nothing against you. You're welcome to fight for her if something were to happen to us, but officially, all you can be is her uncle."

He argued with me a bit more, but he eventually calmed down. When I was finally left alone, I retreated to my spot at the window in the nursery to give myself the chance to calm down.

And that was where Kanda found me when he finally escaped from Teidoll a couple hours later. He sighed in exasperation as he sat down by my feet and placed his hands on my belly, finally relaxing as he felt our baby kick. "I really hope this kid doesn't take after any of her grandparents."

The look on his face made me chuckle. "Or mine."

Kanda stilled, but it wasn't until he looked at me with eyes full of confusion that I realized what I'd just said. "Moyashi? You've...?" He paused, changing his mind about what he wanted to ask me. "Which?"

I sighed heavily at the memory. I wasn't intentionally keeping this from Kanda, it was simply painful to recall and I hadn't wanted to share it. "I met Natasha's parents a few months ago. ...They were not nice people..."

.x.x.

~April~

I felt better after pouring my heart out about Nolan to Kanda, but I was still working on moving on. So when Natasha showed up out of nowhere, suddenly wanting to spend time with me, it didn't take a genius to figure out that Neah had sent her to cheer me up. I was a little miffed at my uncle for butting in on my life and not observing the boundaries I'd set, and I _really_ wanted to be left alone until I'd had more time to heal, but I also knew that one on one time with my mother was not something I should pass up.

Natasha played it off flawlessly, never once letting on that Neah had put her up to this. Instead, she continued to insist that she was simply struck with the inspiration to take me back to the town where I was born and show me off to her parents. And between the way her pride for me made me feel and the curiosity I felt towards meeting my grandparents - I had only recently discovered that I had _parents_ , also having grandparents was a completely foreign concept to me - I knew I had to go with her.

My excitement and curiosity faded the instant we arrived in town. Instead of feeling happy, albeit a little reluctantly, for what was coming next, a pit of dread settled into my stomach. I'd been here before.

Unfortunately, Natasha could read me far too well for only having known me for three months, and she immediately picked up on my change in mood. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." I sighed and continued, knowing that she wouldn't accept that as an answer. "I was here on a mission not that long ago, and the people weren't exactly friendly."

She laughed and played with a strand of her blue streaked hair. "Yeah, they can get a little judgmental towards people who don't conform to social norms."

Half-smiling at her attempt to make me feel better, I pulled a bandanna out of my pocket and tied it around my head. I'd recently gotten comfortable enough to stop hiding my cat ears, but this was a place where I felt a lot safer with them covered.

Our relationship may have been short so far, but I could read my mother just as well as she could read me. And I found it more than a little odd that her nervousness only grew the farther we got into town. When I prompted her about it, I was surprised by the answer she gave. "It was exactly nineteen years ago today that I told them I was pregnant and they threw me out."

I smiled along with her, but then the math clicked in my head. Based on today's date and everything else she'd told me about her pregnancy... "Wait. My birthday actually is in December?"

She stopped in her tracks and gave me an odd look. "You didn't know that?"

I shook my head at her. "I never knew when my birthday was. Mana adopted me on Christmas Day, so we always celebrated it then. It's a bit surprising that we actually got the month right."

I had kept walking, so it caught me off guard when her arms were suddenly around my shoulders. "The twenty fifth..."

When she trailed off, I looked up at her, surprised to see that she looked as stunned as I felt. "You were born at eight o'clock in the evening on the twenty fourth..."

It felt like you could have knocked me over with a feather. But before I could get too freaked out, I thought of a rather important question. "What year?"

She just laughed. "You're eighteen, Allen."

We were both in a good mood as Natasha rang the bell to her parents' house, but once again, that feeling was replaced with a feeling of dread as I recognized the woman who answered the door. I knew her from my mission, but the real problem was that even though she was older and sterner, the resemblance between her and Natasha was unmistakable. This was my grandmother.

She immediately got angry when she saw Natasha, and while that bothered me, I was mostly just thankful that she hadn't noticed me yet; there was no doubt in my mind that she would remember me.

Natasha tried to be pleasant, but I could tell that it wasn't easy for her, especially when her father came to the door in response to the fuss his wife was making. It looked for a moment like he was going to be reasonable, but then he looked Natasha right in the eyes and said, "You're not our daughter, our daughter is dead."

I felt my claws unsheathe in reaction to the anger that washed over me, but I managed to keep it all inside. Natasha also somehow managed to remain calm and collected, though I could feel her seething. "I just wanted to introduce you to your grandson, but if you don't want to meet him, I'll be on my way."

Their attention immediately snapped to me, and I was right, they did recognize me. And as I also expected, they began saying nasty things to me. I tuned them out as my anger faded to disappointment. Letting out a tired sigh, I grabbed Natasha by the elbow and began to lead her away. "Let's go, Mum."

I only dragged her a few steps before she turned and willingly followed me. We found a secluded spot to rest, and while we sat on a low wall under some overhanging trees, I pulled off my bandanna and shook out my ears. "Sorry, Allen. I thought they'd want to meet you. I didn't think they'd still be so upset with me."

Reluctantly, I sighed and corrected her. "That wasn't about you. I met them the last time I was here."

"Allen?"

I didn't want to share the story, but that concerned look she gave me made it spill out. Before I realized it, I was telling my mother all about how rude _her_ mother had been to me on that mission. Tired of being depressed today, I tried to turn it all into a joke as I finished. "Their behavior makes a whole lot more sense now that I know that the last exorcist they saw before me was Cross." I briefly laughed as I fiddled with one of the gold buttons on my coat. "They probably hate all the generals."

Natasha just frowned at me, so I smiled as brightly as I could without it being fake, just enough to reassure her that I wasn't lying about my feelings. "I'm fine, Mum. Honestly, I had no interest in meeting people who abandoned their only child over one stupid mistake. I only came along to spend time with you."

She started crying with that and I found myself wrapped in a hug. I returned the gesture, a few tears of my own slipping down my cheeks, loving the feeling of my mother's embrace and feeling sad that that was something she'd probably never feel again.

We were interrupted when a stray cat suddenly forced its way between us and settled down in my lap. We laughed at the random happening, but as I started to pet the little gray cat - because that's what you do when a cat is lying on your lap, or so Kanda tells me - it started to purr. My amusement quickly faded to irritation over what it was saying to me:

It was calling me "mommy".

I scowled down at it and tried to set it straight. "I'm not your mother."

It gave me a look that was clearly laughing at me, laid its head back down, and fell asleep. As I sighed in exasperation, I felt a gentle hand come to rest on my shoulder. Facing Natasha's concerned look, I smiled mischievously. "Yes, I can understand animals. It's either from your curse or because I'm going crazy. But it's nothing to worry about."

.x.x.

~Present Day~

When I finished the story, Kanda chuckled and rubbed my belly. "I wonder if it knew that you were pregnant..."


	36. Chapter 36

A/N: It's wedding time!

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

After the chaos of the last few days, I was almost surprised at how quickly Sunday arrived. On top of dealing with Teidoll and all of the Moyashi's relatives, I'd had to put up with Allen growing more agitated by the hour. It was annoying and pissed me off. Right up until the point when I learned that he wasn't just being hormonal from his pregnancy. He was having pre-wedding jitters. And it was beyond adorable that Allen was nervous about our wedding.

Lenalee whisked him away first thing that morning, and because all of our friends were under orders to keep us from seeing each other until the ceremony, I was stuck in Lavi's company. But as annoying as he was, I didn't want to have to deal with whatever Lenalee would do to me if I tried to sneak off, so I stayed put and stuck to the agenda the girls had set.

Ignoring Lavi's chattering and Teidoll's happy tears, I focused on getting ready for my wedding. I may have been convinced that we would be allowed to get married ever since we'd learned of his pregnancy, but there was still a part of me that was surprised that this day had actually come. In a matter of hours, Allen Walker was actually going to _officially_ be mine. And while I didn't care for weddings, the fact that this was _our_ wedding was something to be celebrated. I was all for being legally bound to my Moyashi.

I was uncomfortable in my suit, but it was necessary for the occasion. I knew the Moyashi wanted me in something more formal than my uniform, and it was far better than the stuffy tuxedo Lenalee had wanted to make me wear, so I was going to put up with it. I had expected Lenalee to make a huge fuss when I refused to wear the tuxedo, but when I countered her accusations and explained that I had no intention of "just wearing my uniform", she calmed right back down, and that surprised me. Apparently, the fact that I was _willing_ to dress up was more than enough to satisfy her into compromising. She had also tried to get me to wear my hair down, but the Moyashi was on my side on that issue, so she gave up without a fight.

I may have been ignoring Lavi, but I still noticed when he shooed Marie and Teidoll from the room and we were left alone. The serious glint in his eye was one I'd been expecting to see for quite a few weeks now, and it was almost surprising that he waited until the morning before our wedding to question me about my intentions towards the Moyashi. It was no secret that the redhead thought of Allen as a little brother - which in my opinion was one of his few redeeming qualities - and even though he claimed to be my best friend, that didn't stop him from considering me to be a threat to Allen.

Lavi approached me and began to pretend to straighten my tie, clearly as a way to get in my personal space. "You're really gonna do this? You're really gonna marry Allen?"

I shoved him away roughly. "Che. Really? _That's_ the stupid question you needed privacy to ask?"

Lavi chuckled nervously. "Right, 'get to point', eh?"

When all I did was glare at him, his nervous laughter died and he swallowed hard. "Alright, alright. This really isn't about you and him. I've heard more than enough in the last few weeks to know that you both are dedicated to your relationship. And I-"

His babbling was getting annoying. "The _point_ , Lavi?"

He stopped the nervous babbling, but I was not prepared for what he suddenly blurted out. "Is the baby really yours?"

 _What?_ I really didn't understand what he was asking. "...What?"

Lavi threw his hands up in an attempt to placate me. "Don't hit me. It's not my idea. It's just a rumor that's been going around. And I wanted to know whether it was true or not."

I blinked at him. "You're not making sense. Start at the beginning."

Finally understanding that I had no clue what he was talking about, Lavi calmed down and went back to being serious. "Look, I know you two really have slept together, so let me explain this fully before you get pissed off, ok?" He paused, but he picked back up when I didn't actually react to the question. "Like I said, this is just a rumor I've been hearing, and while I don't particularly believe it, it's disturbing enough that I need to know whether or not there's any truth to it."

When he stopped talking, I growled at him. "Get on with it then."

Lavi jumped slightly before fixing me with a very serious stare. "Allen's been pretty adamant that he wasn't raped. And you know what they say about people who protest too much... Then there's your involvement in all of this. You've been so caring and protective of him, and I'm sure even you have noticed just how out of character that is for you. The two of you secretly being in a relationship _is_ one way to explain all of it, but there is another: Allen was raped, and because you were there when it happened, you feel guilty about it and have decided to make things right by claiming the baby and pursuing a relationship with him."

I wanted to hit him for being stupid, but when I realized that that actually was how I would act in the hypothetical situation he had described, I couldn't make myself move. Lavi began messing with my tie again. "So, did you actually get him pregnant or is this marriage just your way of taking responsibility for a rape you let happen?"

This time I did hit him. While Lavi was doubled over in pain, Marie opened the door and stuck his head inside the room. "It's time."

It may have seemed like simple good timing, but the look on Marie's face told me that he had been listening to our conversation and was coming to rescue me. I followed him into the hall, stopping in the doorway to actually answer Lavi's last question; I knew that that was the only way to make him stop pestering me about this. "It's my baby. Stop being a moron."

I walked with Marie to the front of the chapel, with Lavi following along behind us. The little room was packed full of people. And with the exception of Teidoll, who was sitting in the front row and looking like he'd explode if he smiled any brighter, everyone was either there to support the Moyashi or because they wanted to see our wedding with their own eyes. It was irritating, but I knew that Allen thought no one wanted to come, so for his sake, I was thankful for the crowd.

I didn't care much for the stereotypical wedding decor that the girls had put up. White was not a color that I liked - with the exception of my Moyashi's hair color - and I found all the flowers and ribbons unnecessary and annoying. But it also wasn't worth arguing with Lenalee and Camilla over. I may have disliked it, but it was far better in the grand scheme of things to just let the girls do what they wanted.

After Lavi and I got into position at the front, Marie moved over to the organ, starting the ceremony with the traditional wedding march. Allen hadn't wanted to take the bride's place, but the girls insisted that he needed to make a grand entrance and he had caved to their wishes.

Allen walking down the aisle towards me was a sight I'd always remember. He was dressed much like he usually was, but the vest and ribbon that had disappeared over the course of his pregnancy were back, and his shirt was actually tucked in. The ensemble did little to hide his pregnant belly, putting the bulge on display for everyone to see. The Moyashi's bright smile was flawless, but I could still tell that he was nervous; the way his tail curled and twisted with each step he took was mesmerizing. But then he finally noticed me and all that tension faded away.

The ceremony itself was short, just a priest saying a few traditional words, but it was still too long for the Moyashi. Not just standing, but standing _still_ and in one spot for that long was really hard on him in his current condition. But even though he was tired, Allen continued to smile happily, his grin practically splitting his face as we exchanged rings and kissed in front of everyone.

.x.x.

The first thing Allen did when they finally returned to their room after the reception was kick off his boots. He smiled happily at Kanda as he rubbed his aching feet. The samurai was having trouble getting his tie off, but rather than help, Allen was enjoying watching the ring on his finger shimmer as he struggled with the knot. He finally understood why Kanda had been upset back when he'd chosen not to wear his engagement ring. "Hey, Yuu? Can I be on top tonight?"

The directness of the question surprised Kanda. "Can you?"

What was meant as a sincere question was clearly taken the wrong way by the pregnant neko, who immediately hissed and got angry over what he perceived as a challenge. Kanda sighed and shook his head. "Calm down, Moyashi. I didn't mean it like _that_. I'm talking about your pregnancy, not your actual ability to top me. Your belly's gotten rather big since you last were on top, and I'm simply concerned that it might be too big now."

The comment made Allen frown. "Oh. ... Well we can still try, right?"

The hopeful smile he gave made Kanda melt. "Only if you promise to not force it. If it's too difficult for you, just say so, ok?"

Allen practically leapt at Kanda, knocking the samurai backwards onto the mattress. Their mouths met roughly at first, but it quickly turned into a deep and meaningful kiss. Tonight was their wedding night, and both young men were deeply moved by the thought of this being their first time as a married couple.

Their tongues twisted and fought as they tried to bring the other closer, the tension between them building with each shaky breath they took. Fingers scrabbled against fabric and buttons, the young men swiftly removing the clothing that kept them from the sweet sensation of feeling the other's bare skin against their own. Shirts were tossed aside and pants were kicked off, and it wasn't long at all before the only thing separating them was the fabric of their boxers.

Moving on from the feverish kissing, Allen focused his mouth on Kanda's collarbone and his fingers on that sensitive spot below his rib cage, making the samurai lose control as pleasure flooded his body. He tried to fight back, but as his hands futilely searched for the Moyashi's tail, the appendage in question moved and began rubbing along the inside of his thigh. He moaned deeply and unashamedly, his erection growing with each swipe of Allen's tail until it was threatening to rip right out of his boxers. The neko's sensitive hearing picked up the popping of the seams underneath the samurai's growing moans, and he picked up the pace, moving his mouth and tail faster as he pressed harder and harder on Kanda's sensitive spots, not stopping until the man below him cried out, his whole body shuddering as he came.

While Kanda struggled to regain control of his breathing, Allen slid off the bed, taking the other's boxers with him. He swiftly slipped off his own boxers, trying to ignore his aching erection, and moved back to the bed. In anticipation of what was coming next, Kanda had rolled over, resting on his knees and elbows to give the Moyashi easy access to his opening. The neko paused briefly to take in the gorgeous sight of Kanda's muscular body ready and waiting to be fucked, but then he got straight to work, shoving the first of his saliva slicked fingers into the waiting hole. He worked quickly, stretching and scissoring the opening as fast as could before his own need overwhelmed him.

When he determined that the man was loose enough, he pulled his fingers out and knelt behind him. He moved into position only to be stopped right as his tip pressed against the stretched hole. He couldn't go any farther. For this position to work, his pregnant belly had to be resting on Kanda's lower back, and given its size, he couldn't move any closer.

Though he was impatient for sex, Kanda was understanding, and they tried a different position, only to be met with similar results. By the fifth failed position, Allen was angry and frustrated and he collapsed in a heap on the bed.

Lying next to the upset neko, Kanda kissed the Moyashi gently, rubbing his ears until he had calmed down. As Allen began to kiss him back, Kanda moved his hand down to the base of his tail, teasing the sensitive spot and heating things up between them once more.

After leaving a bright red hickey on the Moyashi's throat, Kanda guided him to his hands and knees, moving behind him to stretch his opening. Allen might not have been able to top, but that didn't mean that they couldn't have sex. As his slender fingers moved inside his Moyashi, simultaneously preparing him and searching for that spot that would make him scream, Kanda was not at all surprised to hear him grumble that this position didn't work either.

Pulling his fingers out and climbing off the bed, Kanda grabbed the neko's hips, gently sliding him backwards until he too was standing at the foot of the bed. Allen followed Kanda's lead, letting the samurai move his body into a new position. With his feet spread yet firmly planted on the floor and his upper body leaning forward so that his pregnant belly was resting on the mattress, he was no longer struggling against the weight of it all.

Kanda's fingers returned to Allen's hole, quickly finding his prostate and making him scream as pleasure washed over him. The neko whimpered as the fingers were removed, only to moan deeply as the samurai's thick shaft replaced them. He was stretched to his limit, but he still wanted more, bucking his hips as Kanda began to thrust into him.

The standing position was a little awkward at first, but Kanda forced himself to stick with it, knowing that this was the position that was most comfortable for his pregnant husband. Neither young man lasted long, as Allen had very little stamina and they were already at their limits from their earlier attempts to find a workable position. A stray thrust from Kanda hit the Moyashi's prostate, and it was all over. As the neko to finally found release, his passage spasmed around Kanda's shaft, pushing him over the edge.

Kanda recovered much more quickly than the pregnant neko, as Allen was already exhausted from the day's festivities before they started. He coaxed the tired young man the few feet to the bathroom, cleaning them both up with a damp washcloth. The Moyashi yawned several times throughout the process, looking more childlike and innocent with each yawn. Seeing that Allen was basically asleep on his feet, Kanda picked up his husband and carried him back to their bed.

They snuggled together under the covers as best they could with Allen's pregnant belly in their way, and Kanda took advantage of the neko's exhausted state to rub the bump without being nagged at or pushed away. So when Allen suddenly started sniffling, he expected the touching to be what was bothering the brat. Instead, what he got was, "Ugh. I can't believe you were right. I really am too pregnant to top."

Kanda chuckled briefly and pulled the pouting neko closer. "Relax, Moyashi. It's just for the next couple months. Once you've had the baby, you can be on top all you want."

Allen only pouted more at that. "You're just saying that to make me feel better."

The grumbling earned him a flicked ear. "Baka. We've been over this. You can't get pregnant if you're the one on top, so you being dominant is by far the most effective form of birth control we'll have. Now shut up and go to sleep. It's been a long day."


	37. Chapter 37

A/N: It's time for some stuff to happen. I hope you're all ready for some cliffhangers! ;)

To Matharose111612: Sorry to disappoint, but there's a reason Kanda has narrated every wedding I've written. And yes, I've already got the baby named; I had her name picked out before I started posting "Of Cats and Witches" two and a half years ago. Some of the things in this story have been set in stone for a very long time.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

The six weeks between my wedding and my birthday passed slowly and uneventfully. Now that Kanda and I were married, the novelty of our relationship had worn off and people no longer felt the need to pester us incessantly about it. And with the exception of the other exorcists, the subject of my pregnancy had received the same treatment; only those closest to me were still interested enough to question me and fawn over my unborn baby. It was nice to no longer be the center of attention, even though I knew that it was only temporary; once the baby came, everyone would be focused on us once more.

As I got closer to the final weeks of my pregnancy, my mood swings stabilized and I could actually get through a whole day without overreacting and bursting into tears or nearly biting someone's head off over something insignificant. Of course, as the hormonal fog I was in faded, so did my desire for sex. While I'd spent the majority of my pregnancy being easily aroused, over the last few weeks, my libido had switched off completely. But while that was frustrating, the baby had done nothing but grow during that time, and I was fairly certain that I was now so big that we couldn't have had sex even if I'd wanted to, and from that perspective, I was thankful that sex was no longer something that I wanted. But only from that perspective. Kanda loved my pregnant body and I hated that I couldn't give it to him.

The only noteworthy thing that had happened lately was the day Lavi brought me a new batch of pregnancy and parenting books. I was excited for the new reading material, but Lavi nearly ended up with another broken nose when I saw that one of the books was about cats. However, he wasn't at all fazed by my anger and instead proceeded to tell me all about how my pregnancy compared to a cat's. He eventually grew bored and left, but not before thoroughly creeping me out - I had not needed to hear that cats could carry as many as ten kittens at a time. If I weren't already beyond done with being pregnant, that for sure would have scared me out of having another baby.

After all the drama of the past few months and everything that had happened on my birthday _last_ year, I was looking forward to a normal, quiet birthday, with everyone more focused on Christmas than on me. After all, with the exception of Kanda, no one at the Order knew that Christmas actually was my birthday, which should have meant that everyone would act like they usually did and more or less ignore me. Which was exactly what I wanted them to do.

Except that I'd forgotten one thing: my mother.

Natasha was dead set on celebrating my birthday with me. I couldn't really blame her for that - it was my first birthday since we'd been reunited after all - but that didn't stop me from not wanting to celebrate. I tried to convince her that she didn't need to do anything special, that just coming and having dinner together was all that I wanted from her, but she wouldn't listen.

It shouldn't have been at all surprising, but when she finally stopped pestering me, she went behind my back to Neah, and he in turn told her all of the things that I either hadn't wanted her to know or had promised Cross I wouldn't tell her. And once my mother knew that I hadn't had a proper birthday celebration in years, there was no convincing her that I didn't need a party. There was also no way of stopping her from telling all of my friends that I'd never had a real birthday party, and once they knew that, the whole Order knew it too.

Of course, as lousy as they all were at keeping secrets, I somehow never knew that any of this was going on. I never once heard about the party they were planning for me or even suspected from their behavior that they were up to something. It wasn't until I walked into the dining hall for dinner that night, and found the room heavily decorated and full of all of my friends that I realized what lengths my mother had gone to.

Thankfully my mood swings were over, so I was able to hide my irritation behind a happy smile; I may not have wanted a party, but I wasn't about to cause a scene in front of everyone - there was no need to hurt anyone's feelings over this.

While she was a major cause of my annoyance with the whole situation, as I knew that she was the one who got everyone else involved, Lenalee did do one thing _very_ right: she convinced everyone that instead of birthday presents, they should give me baby shower presents. So instead of opening gifts I didn't need or want, I was opening packages of toys and clothes for my daughter. And that made the whole thing worthwhile. It was so much easier opening gifts in front of everyone when the items inside them were things that actually interested me.

But aside from the gifts and the food, the party still sucked.

Kanda was suspiciously absent through all of this, and when I confronted him later, he did admit to knowing they were planning a party for me. He knew I wouldn't want it, so he had refused to go. But when I asked him why he hadn't told me about the party, he just laughed at me. Lenalee had only agreed to stop pestering him on the condition that he kept it a secret. I wanted to be mad at him for selling me out, but when he went on to point out that knowing about the party wouldn't have gotten me out of it, I could only concede that he had a point.

.x.x.

Neah was looking forward to being with his nephew on the day his brother had adopted the boy, but one look at Allen told him that the neko was still upset about his surprise party from the night before. Knowing that he needed to calm Allen down, Neah immediately threw his hands up in surrender. "Don't give me that look. I already know what you're thinking."

The comment made Allen smirk darkly. "Good. Then you'll know what's coming."

Neah did know what was coming, and chose to let Allen hit him; it was best to let the pregnant neko vent his anger. However, what he was not expecting was to be punched in the stomach. By his left hand. And even if it was deactivated, being hit with Innocence _hurt_. "Did you really have to use your left hand?"

"Oh?" Allen cocked an eyebrow at his uncle. "Would you rather I have used my claws?"

Instead of replying, Neah simply rolled up his sleeve and held his arm out where the neko could see it. Allen recognized the long raised scars immediately, having several of his own, though Neah's were a lot thinner than his were. They were the scars Innocence left on Noah. And given the context of the conversation, those specific scars were from when Allen had accidentally scratched his uncle the first time he'd used his claws.

Neah smirked at the stunned expression on Allen's face, though his amusement faded a little when he realized that the neko was on the verge of tears. "I think we both agree that you're never going to use your claws on me again."

.x.x.x.x.x.x.

~A Few Days Later~

"Are you ok, Allen?"

I didn't realize that I had spaced out until Lenalee addressed me. I did my best to refocus on what was happening around me, but it was hard in the aftermath of the sudden cramping in my belly. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little exhausted."

Lavi snickered at my response as he shoved a forkful of pasta into his mouth. "Of course you're tired, buddy. You're nine months pregnant. Have you looked in the mirror lately? You're kinda huge."

I wanted to respond to the comment, but I didn't have the energy to do anything other than say, "Shut up."

His retort was missed as another cramp hit me. My tail involuntary curled in reaction to the pain, but I kept a tired expression plastered on my face and neither of them noticed that I was in pain.

Lenalee smacked Lavi for whatever it was he had said. "Don't you have a mission to get to?"

He looked a little panicked as he got up and bolted from the cafeteria. She laughed at his antics before turning a gentle smile on me. "So the surgery is scheduled for Saturday, huh? Just three more days. Are you scared?"

Her words made me laugh despite the residual pain in my belly. "Of the surgery? Not even a little. I'm ready to be done with this whole pregnancy thing. It's what happens afterward that I'm scared of. I don't know if I can handle caring for a baby."

She laughed lightly and placed her hand on mine, squeezing it gently. "We've been over this before, Allen. You are going to be a fantastic parent. And if you get a little overwhelmed, that's what the rest of us are here for. I plan to hold you to your promise that I'll be my niece's first babysitter."

Miranda joined us right then, and I knew her presence meant that Teidoll had arrived and was off tormenting Kanda somewhere. The German woman smiled brightly at me as she set her tray down. "Lenalee's not the only one looking forward to this, Allen. General Teidoll's so excited that he had to come home two days early. And Noise and I can't wait to meet our goddaughter."

I smiled at her comments, both to show I was grateful and to hide another cramp. This one was harder than the previous few I'd felt, and I rubbed the side of my swollen belly to try to ease the pain.

The two women continued to chatter about my baby. I smiled and nodded along, but I wasn't paying any attention to what they were saying. In my head, I was running through all of the different pregnancy books I had read, trying to figure out what the cause of the cramping would be. The answer hit me at the same time as the pain flared up once more: they weren't cramps, they were _contractions_.

But I knew that that wasn't anything to panic over. I wasn't in labor. The doctors had said I'd probably experience some sort of false labor before the surgery, but because I couldn't actually give birth, I wouldn't experience true labor pains. Something I was glad of, because if this was what false labor felt like then I did _not_ want to have a real one.

When Marie and Kanda sat down at the table and joined the girls' discussion about the baby, I debated telling them I was having contractions, but I decided that there was no need to worry them over something trivial. They'd only drop what they were doing and cart me off to the infirmary, and there was no reason to waste everyone's time like that.

In spite of the random pains, it was a pleasant lunch. But that's when everything went to hell. Literally.

My eye reacted to the arrival of the akuma at the same time as the alarms sounded. Chaos broke out, but it was a little more controlled than last time now that we knew the Noah weren't above attacking our headquarters; we were prepared for it this time around.

Kanda kissed me and rubbed my ears before he ran off to join the fight; neither of us wanted him to leave my side, but it was necessary. The war came first. And the cold hard truth was that, in my current condition, I was safer inside Miranda's time bubble than I was with him.

The two of us sat in the protective shield of her activated Innocence while the chaos around us grew. I heard someone cry out that there were at least three Noah in the building, and a quick mental check confirmed that count. And not long after that, the order to recall all exorcists from the field went out.

But the fighting was all focused elsewhere in the building, and the room around us soon grew silent. Only the occasional explosion let us know that our comrades were still fighting. We stayed where we were so that the others could find Miranda's bubble if they needed it. I tried to use my eye to keep track of the battle, but all it really told me was that there were hundreds of akuma in the area. And every akuma that was defeated was replaced by two more.

Giving up on that, I leaned back against the table while inwardly cursing how useless my pregnant belly made me. I did not like having to sit on the sidelines while everyone else fought.

And that's when I experienced my first _real_ contraction.

It was different from the random pains I'd been experiencing thus far, and I knew the second it started that those doctors were full of crap: I was in labor. It freaked me out, but I pushed it aside. One lone contraction was nothing to worry about. After all, the books I'd read said that labor could last more than eighteen hours for first time pregnancies. _It's nothing to worry about._

Miranda and I exchanged a few nervous smiles, but otherwise we just sat side by side in silence, waiting for something to happen. We were too worried about our husbands and friends to speak. The passing seconds seemed like hours, and it felt like I was going to go crazy. Especially when another contraction hit me.

But there was no time to dwell on that, as at that moment, someone came into the room. I looked up at the sound of the footsteps only to find myself staring at the Millennium Earl.


	38. Chapter 38

A/N: Surprise Tuesday update! I'm going out of town and will be without internet/cell service for a while, so I'm posting this today rather than making you wait a whole extra week for it. ;)

As always, thanks for the reviews! I can't believe that this story has reached 200 already. I appreciate every single one of them!

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

 _I looked up at the sound of footsteps only to find myself staring at the Millennium Earl._

The Earl was alone. It was beyond strange that he didn't have any sort of back up, but given that he stopped walking when he saw me, that was intentional. _I_ was his target and he wanted to face me alone. And that was even more terrifying than the thought that I was in labor.

He surveyed me in silence for a moment before breaking out into that creepy grin of his. "So this is where you've been, Allen Walker. I've been looking for you for months."

I knew I was - probably - safe inside of Miranda's Innocence bubble, but in my current heavily pregnant condition, that didn't stop me from feeling scared at coming face to face with the Earl while headquarters was under attack. My heart pounded in my chest and the baby inside me squirmed uncomfortably in reaction to my stress. But despite all that, I couldn't help being sarcastic; after all, I'd spent the last several months getting rather close with my sarcastic side and even though I was no longer having mood swings, the sarcasm still felt completely natural. "Of course I'm here. Where else would I have been?"

The words didn't even make him blink. "Tell me, Allen Walker, what have you done to Neah?"

His tone was casual, but I could tell he was pissed. So I chose to pour oil on the flames. I wanted to see if I could piss him off. "What are you talking about? Who's this Neah person?"

My feigned ignorance didn't have the effect I anticipated; the Earl ignored my comment. He continued to stare me down like I was a misbehaving child. "You should have awoken as the Fourteenth Noah months ago. After all that effort we went through to arrange for the Second to stab you, you should have already broken free of this place. That plan was perfect, there's no way it failed. So where is he? Where is the Fourteenth?"

Another contraction hit while he was talking. _Fuck. This can't be happening right now_. I collected myself as best as I could, praying that the Earl wouldn't notice that I was in labor. "First of all: that was like three years ago. You're a little late to the party if you're just now getting upset about this. And second, that guy stabs me all the time," Miranda let out an embarrassed squeak, obviously understanding the unintentional double entendre in my words, "so of course your plan failed."

This time my flippant attitude did upset the Earl. "Where. Is. Neah?!"

"How should I know? I'm sure you've seen him more recently than I have." Definitely a lie when I had just seen Neah a few days earlier, but the Earl didn't need to know that. "I don't get what you're so upset about anyway. I may not have awoken as the Fourteenth, but Neah's still alive. It's not like he died or anything."

As my next contraction started, the bandanna I'd been wearing to keep warm suddenly felt much too constricting on my ears. I quickly pulled it off, trying to keep the rest of my body still to mask the pain I was feeling. I was mostly successful, but if anyone were looking closely, they'd have noticed my tail trembling; it was a good thing it was hanging off the bench behind me where no one could see it.

The Earl cut his ranting off mid-sentence, and even though I hadn't heard a word he'd said, it was still glaringly obvious that it was the sight of my cat ears twitching on top of my head that had made him stop. He stared at me in stunned silence, but he recovered his power of speech before the pain of my latest contraction faded enough to allow me to talk. "So the rumors that you'd been turned into a cat were true."

The words pissed me off and I snapped back at him. "I'm not a cat, I'm a neko."

Of course, the Earl noticed that he'd succeeded at rattling me, so he wasn't going to drop the subject any time soon. "Tyki's going to be insufferable to live with now that he's been proven right. Is it true you have a tail too?"

I frowned at the question. "That's none of your business."

The Earl just cackled at my reaction. "And is it also true that you were cursed by a witch?"

I nearly leapt to my feet in anger, but a gentle hand on my shoulder kept me rooted in place; the reminder that Miranda was present calmed me back down immediately. "What do want, Earl? I'm sure there's a reason you broke into our headquarters, so just tell me what it is so that we can get on with our lives."

He frowned in thought, clearly trying to decide if he wanted to answer my question or continue to tease me, but that's when he noticed something that seemed to really freak him out. The reaction would have been comical if the situation weren't so tense. "What the hell has the Order done to you?!"

I blinked at him, completely clueless as to what he was referring to, as we had already covered the fact that I was now a neko. "What are you talking about? The Order hasn't done anything to me."

He scowled at me, unamused by my denial. In fact, he almost seemed angrier at this than he was over the whole Neah thing earlier. "I don't buy it. You look ready to pop. So how'd they do it? What experiment did they put you through that turned you into such a fertile little woman?"

"Oh that." I dropped my gaze to my belly as I stroked it, hiding a wince as yet another contraction hit. I had lost track of how many I'd had, but I could tell that they were getting closer together, and that was _not_ a good sign. _Please, baby._ _ **Please**_ _stop trying to come out of me._ "The Order had nothing to do with that."

The Earl raised an eyebrow at me in disbelief. "So you're telling me that you ended up massively pregnant on your own?"

I snorted at the thought. "Of course not. My baby _does_ have a father."

He scowled at me. "That doesn't answer the question."

I glared at him in response and crossed my arms over my belly. I was not about to tell _him_ any of the details of my pregnancy.

The Earl was apparently also done talking.

When I didn't respond, he met my glare briefly before pulling out his sword. I braced myself for impact, but Miranda's activation held against his attack. He tried a few different swipes and stabs, only succeeding once at making the bubble vibrate.

We could only sit there under the onslaught, as I was too weak to fight and Miranda's Innocence had no offensive form. We could only pray that her activation would hold until someone found us.

Right as it occurred to me that I had access to the ark and had the ability to get Miranda out of there, the Earl launched a very different attack. The bubble rattled and shook, and then everything happened all at once.

Miranda collapsed as the attack broke through, falling unconscious as her Innocence deactivated. Acting solely on instinct, I threw myself towards her, reacting the only way I knew how in the situation. I willed Crowned Clown to activate and covered us with my cloak, protecting us both from the Earl's attack.

It was a simple action, and even in my current condition, it should have been a piece of cake to do; after all, I had done it just a couple months earlier to save myself from a rather nasty fall. However, in a completely unexpected turn of events, Crowned Clown was fighting with me. It was trying to deactivate itself.

I worked my way to my feet, fighting the whole time to keep my Innocence activated, and stood and faced the Earl. He cackled and made a comment about how fighting in my condition was pointless, but I wasn't listening to him.

 _Come on, Crowned Clown. Why are you trying to fight me on this? The last time headquarters was attacked and I was too weak to fight, you were all for giving me your power and forcing my body to fight anyway. What's different this time?_

Almost as if it was answering my question, a contraction worked its way through my belly. And as I hunched slightly in pain, I suddenly knew exactly what my Innocence was thinking.

 _Look, I get that you want to protect the baby._ _ **You**_ _did this to me._ _ **You**_ _took my mother's curse and used it to turn me into a neko._ _ **You're**_ _the reason that I'm pregnant right now. And I have mixed feelings about that. But at the same time, I know that it means that you want the same thing I do. As far as either of us is concerned, the only thing that matters is protecting this unborn baby._

 _But I can't defend her like this. I can't protect her while I am so pregnant that I can barely stand. So I need you to give me the power to fight off the Earl. Because if I don't do this, he_ _ **will**_ _kill me and she will die before she ever gets to take a breath in this world. So please, help me save her. I can't do this without you._

I paused to take a deep breath, trying to keep the tears at bay, and in that moment, Crowned Clown stopped fighting against me. Its full power released and it wrapped its tendrils securely around my limbs, giving me the strength and energy I had lost over the course of my pregnancy. The weight of my belly practically disappeared, and for the first time in a long time, I could breathe properly and stand up straight. Feeling like my usual self, I was ready and motivated to face off against the Earl.

Drawing my sword, I quickly defended myself from the Earl's next attack, moving us away from where Miranda lay unconscious so that she'd be out of the line of fire. Our swords clashed loudly as we met each other's strikes, and I felt the power Crowned Clown had given me pulsing through my veins; I knew full well that it was only because of my Innocence that I was on equal footing with the Earl.

We traveled around the room as we parried and thrusted, occasionally jumping up onto tables or knocking them out of our way. But even with Crowned Clown's power, I was growing tired. The Earl and I may have been equally matched, but I was still pregnant and in labor. The contractions weren't as painful as they had been without Crowned Clown's influence, but they still drained my energy. If something didn't change soon, the Earl was going to wear me down. _Please, little one, stay inside me. This isn't a good time for you to come out._

A particularly strong blow sent me flying backwards. I landed awkwardly on my feet, using my sword like a cane to steady myself and keep from falling over. I readied my sword to block the Earl's next attack, but a popping feeling in my groin distracted me. Without warning, a strange fluid began gushing out of me, soaking my pants and creating a puddle on the floor between my spread feet.

I knew that it was my water breaking, but I couldn't even begin to figure out how to process that. If I couldn't give birth, how could my water break? They both used the same hole, a hole that I _didn't_ have. Except that I did have it; I could feel that warm fluid still trickling out of an opening between my legs that I'd never had before. _So the doctors weren't just wrong about labor, they were wrong about birth too. Lovely._

To my surprise, the Earl didn't attack while I was distracted. Instead, he looked back and forth between me and the fluid dripping out of me a few times, and then he started cackling evilly. "Oh ho, that is perfect! You popped! It won't be long before your little one comes into the world. Now I don't have to kill you."

Panic and another contraction hit me with those words. I managed to keep up my stoic front even though I was screaming internally. Whatever the Earl was thinking was going to be beyond bad.

I didn't have to wait in suspense for long. He cackled once more and buried the point of his sword in the floor in front of him. "I can just wait here while you birth your baby, and when you're done, I can take it from you. With Road gone, it's gotten quiet on the ark; we could use a new child. And you'll be free to live in the agony of knowing that your child is being raised as your enemy."


	39. Chapter 39

A/N: Sorry about two cliffhangers in a row, but not really, cuz I've been waiting to post this story arc for quite a while now; I'm very proud of how it turned out. ;) And yes, there is a reason that Miranda is the only exorcist around right now.

Also: this story has now reached 100,000 words! Woo!

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

 _"You'll be free to live in the agony of knowing that your child is being raised as your enemy."_

Those words made me so sick to my stomach that I actually fell to my knees and threw up. My vision blurred with tears as I unwillingly pictured all of the horrible things the Noah would do to my daughter. Every new thing I pictured was worse than the last, and the image of my precious daughter enslaved and treated worse than an animal was so horrifyingly real that I almost couldn't handle it.

But to my surprise, when my vision cleared, I was once again inside Miranda's time bubble, and to my great relief, I was still pregnant. The German woman was breathing almost as heavily as I was as she rubbed soothing circles on my back. "Are you alright, Allen?"

I blinked at her in confusion, trying to get my bearings and wondering when she'd regained consciousness. "M-Miranda?"

She helped me to my feet, which went a whole lot quicker with my Innocence wrapped around my body than it had been in the last few months, and as soon as I was seated on the nearest bench, she immediately set about apologizing to me. The wailing was so normal that it snapped me back to reality and pushed away the final traces of my overactive imagination. "I'm so sorry, Allen! I'm sorry I was so weak! I was supposed to be protecting you! You shouldn't have had to fight in your condition! But I'm better now! So please deactivate your Innocence and rest!"

I took my sword when she handed it to me, but I couldn't do what she was asking. I turned to glare at the Earl, who was still just standing there with that big grin on his face. "I'm sorry, Miranda, but I can't do that. He threatened to take my baby from me. If I don't settle this now then I'll be haunted by nightmares about this for the rest of my life."

She tried to hold me back, but I easily pushed past her and stepped out of the bubble. The Earl started cackling and taunting me again, but I didn't hear a word he said as I readied my sword. Cross had warned me once to not attack the Earl in anger, but this wasn't anger. I was completely calm.

I finally understood what my mother felt when she cursed me, the fury she felt towards the man who had taken me from her. I was no longer only upset over the thought of losing my own child; I was also upset for all those families this war had broken up, for all the lives the Earl had ruined. And those feelings gave me the mental strength that I needed in order to do that one thing I thought I would never be able to go through with, that thing that everyone had been expecting of me since Hevlaska's prophecy back when I first joined the Order:

With one cool, calm swipe of my sword, the Millennium Earl was dead.

.x.x.

I was locked in a harsh battle with Tyki, the Noah that had almost killed my best friend all those years ago. It was a hard fight, I would rather have been fighting the akuma that were wreaking havoc around my home, but the Noah wouldn't let me get distracted. We were fairly evenly matched, neither of us doing any damage at all to the other.

I was thrown a few feet away. And as the Noah approached, I debated activating the second level of my Innocence. That's when Tyki suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. The look on his face was really strange. And he just stood there, staring at nothing.

Seizing my chance, I launched myself at him, only to have him disappear into a purple ark gate right before I made contact.

One glance around was all I needed to know that all of the Noah had retreated from the fight, only akuma were left. Kanda and I shared a confused look before he turned his attention on the akuma and began wiping them out; the Noah may have retreated, but there was still a lot of work to do. I moved to follow his lead, but then a thought struck me. I knew in an instant why they'd attacked and why they'd suddenly fled: they'd gotten what they came for. The fight was clearly a distraction from their real target. Which could only be the thing they were always after: Allen!

I flew as fast as I could toward the cafeteria, taking out several akuma who got in the way, but not stopping for anything. I hadn't even taken the time to shout for Kanda, even though I knew that he needed to know what I'd figured out. Checking on the pregnant neko was my number one priority and nothing was going to get in my way.

The first thing that struck me as I entered the partially destroyed dining hall was that Miranda's Innocence bubble wasn't there. My panic soared at the proof that something had happened here, but that panic died away as I got closer and saw her standing in the most ruined sector of the cafeteria.

I landed beside her, ready to freak out, but before I could, a familiar voice stopped me. "Hey, Lenalee."

That white haired neko smiled up at me from where he was sitting on the ground, one hand rubbing circles on his still very pregnant belly. It was a surreal sight when I thought the Noah had taken him. "Oh thank goodness. Allen. You're alright."

"Are _you_ alright, Lenalee? You look a little frazzled." It was just like Allen to be worried about me when he had clearly just been through something terrible.

I nodded as I finally allowed myself to relax and catch my breath. "I'm fine. The Noah retreated, and it made me worry that they'd done something to you."

He glanced briefly to his right before he sighed and turned his focus back to his belly. "They certainly tried."

I turned to see what he had looked at and gasped in shock. The Millennium Earl was lying face down on the ground in a pile of rubble a few feet away. "Is that the Earl? Is he-?"

"He's dead. Allen killed him."

My attention snapped to Miranda when she spoke, and I noticed that she wasn't looking so good. She was incredibly pale and there was blood coming from a cut on her forehead. "Oh god, Miranda! You're bleeding! We need to get you to the infirmary!"

"No, I'm fine. This is nothing." She waved her arms and backed away from me.

My attention was turned back to Allen when he let out a heavy sigh. "That's it. The last akuma is gone. The fight's over."

"Are you sure?"

My question was answered with a nod. The neko's ears twitched as he rubbed his belly absently. "My eye's not picking up any more akuma."

I took a moment to take in the silence around us. It was eerie and I couldn't help worrying about my comrades. Allen spoke, his quiet voice seeming especially loud. "Don't worry, Lena. We didn't lose anyone."

"How can you know that?" There were tears in my eyes as I fell to my knees beside him.

Allen gave me a smirk as he took my hand and placed it on his ear. When my fingers made contact with the soft fur, I unconsciously began rubbing it, and the action eased my panic. "I can hear better than you can, remember?"

"Oh, right." The serene smile he gave me calmed me completely. If he wasn't worried then I didn't need to be either.

The neko's smile became sheepish as he removed my hand from his ear. "Can you take me to the infirmary?"

I narrowed my eyes at him, confused by the request. "Are you sure? It's going to be a madhouse down there right now. You'd just be in the way."

Allen shook his head and let out a deep groan as he clutched the sides of his belly. The unexpected noise startled me. "I'm in labor. My water broke during the fight. The baby's coming."

I could only blink stupidly at him in response. "Your water broke? But I thought-"

"Lena!" Allen's tone was harsh as he interrupted my ramblings. "Now is not the time for that. Just get me to the infirmary. You can ask your questions later."

.x.x.

The infirmary was in chaos when we arrived. One nurse saw the gash on Miranda's forehead and immediately pulled her away, ignoring the German's protests. Another rushed over to where Lenalee was refusing to put me down, despite the difficulty she had supporting my weight.

This nurse was a trim brunette who wasn't any older than we were. She was new to the Order; I had seen her during my last couple checkups, but we hadn't actually spoken yet - I didn't even know her name. She began to look me over, but before I could get a word out in explanation, there was a very familiar worried growl beside me. "What happened?"

I smiled hesitantly up at my husband as Lenalee moved me into his waiting arms. I was relieved to see him alive and unharmed, but I could feel how scared he was for me, so I tried to calm him down. I placed a hand on his cheek, relieved that the blood there was dry. "Don't worry, I'm not injured. I'm just in labor."

As if on cue, I was hit with another contraction. I braced my belly with my hands, struggling to hold in the scream I felt like releasing. Through my pain, I vaguely heard Lenalee explain to Kanda and the nurse that my water had already broken.

The nurse's eyes widened briefly, but then she was all business. She guided us into the nearest vacant room and looked towards Kanda. "Get him on the bed, and get his pants off."

I numbly helped Kanda help me onto the bed, the exhaustion from my fight with the Earl was starting to set in. Another contraction hit while he was sliding my soaked pants off my hips, and I nearly bit my lip to keep from screaming in pain. The next thing I knew, my legs were spread and the nurse was examining me. It was embarrassing, but I was in too much pain to care.

She moved and let my knees fall to the mattress. I was given a hesitant smile, and the nurse began explaining things to me in that straight to the point way of hers that I very much appreciated. "Allen, you have a birth canal. I know you're not supposed to, but you do. You're roughly eight centimeters dilated. By my estimation, you should be ready to start pushing in an hour."

As scared as that made me, it was a relief to know that I had been right earlier; I truly had felt my water break and I really was in labor. I felt Kanda smirk from somewhere beside me, his panic had died considerably now that he knew I wasn't hurt. "Looks like you're going to be giving birth naturally, Moyashi."

My fear quickly turned to pain. I cringed as the contraction wracked through my belly. When it passed, I felt tears prick at the corner of my eyes. I was _not_ prepared for it to happen this way.I was not prepared to give birth.

The nurse looked up from where she was covering my lower half with a sheet. She smiled softly at me and placed a gentle hand on my knee. "It's ok to make noise, Allen. You don't have to hold it in. You need to breathe through the pain, and you can't do that if you're trying not to scream. There's so much going on out there that no one's going to hear you anyway."

She gave me another smile when I frowned at the comment. "I'm going to go fetch the doctors. They're going to want to get a look at you so that they can decide whether or not they still want to go ahead with the surgery." She turned her focus on Lenalee and Kanda, narrowing her eyes at them to show just how serious she was. "But before I do that, are either of you injured in any way?"

They both assured her they were fine, and she left the room. As soon as the door closed behind her, I struggled to get into a sitting position. Within seconds, Kanda's hands were helping me and Lenalee's were pushing me back down. She glared at me. "You should stay laying down, Allen."

"If he wants to sit up, let him sit up. What's the big deal, woman?" She huffed at Kanda's comment.

Normally their bickering would have made me roll my eyes, but right now, it just pissed me off. "Guys! Knock it off. My tail's pinned underneath me, and it's really uncomfortable."

Lenalee backed away immediately. "Oh, sorry."

With Kanda's help, I sat up and worked my tail free. The relief I felt was short lived. I lay back against the mattress as another contraction hit me, this time taking the nurse's advice and vocalizing my pain. Afterwards, I tried to relax, but I couldn't because my tail was once again trapped under me. I pouted down at my pregnant belly. "This isn't going to work; I can't lay on my back without hurting my tail."

Lenalee's eyes lit up. "Kanda, I've got an idea. Help Allen sit up again, take off your jacket and boots, and try to clean up some of that blood and dirt that's on you. I'll be right back." She ran out of the room, leaving us to wonder what she was thinking.

I rubbed my sore belly while I watched Kanda remove the garments she suggested before grabbing a rag and wiping off his face and hands. He looked uninjured, but in the sudden calm, I felt my worry for him resurfacing. "Are you sure you're ok? You didn't strain yourself too much during the fight, did you?"

He chuckled as he ruffled my hair. "Relax Moyashi, I'm fine. A little exhausted, but that's all. So don't waste that energy on me, you'll need it for giving birth to our daughter. Ok?"

I had to wait for a contraction to pass before I could argue with him, but he never gave me the chance. While I was in pain, he had gone down to the other end of the bed and lifted the sheet. "Wha-what are you doing, Bakanda?"

And that's when Lenalee returned with an armful of pillows. I squeezed my legs closed and Kanda dropped the sheet, but I could tell from the look on her face that she had seen me. Her expression turned weird as she looked at Kanda. "Does he always look like that?"

He snorted. "Of course not."

She relaxed, but only until he smirked and tacked on, "He's usually much bigger."

I knew what they were talking about now. And yes, Kanda was right, I had shrunk a little because of the pregnancy, but it was mortifying to hear them talk about it like that. "Hey! Do you have to talk about _that_ right now?!"

Kanda turned his smirk on me. "Only if you continue to worry about us instead of yourself, Moyashi."

"What do those two things have to do with each other-?" I groaned, cut off by a contraction. I clawed at the sheets below me, desperately needing something to grip.

The contraction seemed to have snapped the others back into reality. Kanda helped me sit up, and Lenalee piled the pillows against the headboard. She had Kanda climb onto the bed behind me. He reclined against the pillows and I leaned back against his chest. With him supporting most of my weight, my tail was no longer being crushed.


	40. Chapter 40

A/N: It's baby time!

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

By the time we got situated on the infirmary bed, another contraction had started. Lost in the pain, I leaned back against Kanda's strong chest as my hands gripped the first thing they could find for leverage. The pain eventually passed, but while I wanted to take the opportunity to relax and regain my strength, I couldn't because the contraction had left a horrible burning pressure between my legs.

"Fuck, Moyashi, watch what you're grabbing with your Innocence hand." As he grumbled at me, Kanda moved his arm to where I could see the bright red hand print I had left.

I frowned at the sight, momentarily distracted from the pain I was in. "Sorry."

"Che. Baka. Don't apologize. You're in labor." His hand moved to my belly and he began rubbing circles on it.

I was completely confused. Why was he calling me out for hurting him if he didn't want me to apologize for it? "But-"

He cut me off quickly. "I can handle the pain, Moyashi. That's not the issue here. You need to pay more attention next time. If I hadn't intervened, you would have gotten Lenalee instead of me. The last thing you want right now is to accidentally break her wrist, right?"

I nodded. "Right. Sor-ry!"

My apology turned into a shriek as another contraction hit. This time I managed to grab the sheets instead of one of my friends. I relaxed when the pain passed, but the building pressure in my groin had only gotten worse.

As I lay there panting, the head nurse and a doctor came in, followed by the brunette nurse who had helped me earlier. The head nurse glanced me over briefly before she spoke. "We're going to go prepare another room for your surgery. We'll be as quick as we can, but there's a lot going on out there. In the meantime, Nurse Sarah will stay here with you. If you need anything, she'll help."

Then they turned around and left. The nurse, whose name was apparently Sarah, made a frustrated gesture at the closed door. "You could have at least looked!"

She sighed before coming over to the bed and giving me an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry about that. They wouldn't believe me when I told them that you had a birth canal. But they're at least prepping for the surgery. You won't have to do this naturally if you don't want to."

The relief I felt was immense. After everything I'd put myself through fighting the Earl, I didn't think I would have the strength left to actually deliver my baby; I was beyond glad that cutting me open was still an option. "Good."

She moved closer to the end of the bed, pausing before fingering the edge of the sheet. "I need you to spread your legs so that I can check your progress."

I nodded numbly and complied with her request. There was no time for me to feel embarrassed; I was distracted by the pain of another contraction. I vaguely heard the nurse ask how far apart my contractions were, but I didn't catch Lenalee's reply.

The contraction passed, but I didn't get any relief. The pain of the pressure between my legs was so immense that I could no longer ignore it. When I had regained my breath and could actually hear her, Nurse Sarah spoke. "You're fully dilated and the baby has started to descend into your birth canal, Allen. It's only going to be a few minutes at most before your body is ready to start pushing. I know you don't want to hear this, but at the rate your labor is progressing, you're going to give birth before they're ready for you."

It was a lot of information to take in and I only got bits and pieces of it. At least I now knew that the pain in my groin was the baby trying to get out of me. "But it's only been fifteen minutes! You said that it would take at least an hour."

Kanda snickered and Lenalee giggled. She placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed gently. "Your daughter doesn't want to wait that long. She wants to meet you now."

I glared at her until another contraction hit. I was vaguely aware of the nurse calling to Lenalee and the pair leaving the room. When the pain passed, I was alone with Kanda. I lay back against his chest and closed my eyes, focusing on breathing and staying awake. The pain between my legs was almost intolerable. I didn't want to do this, but at the same time, I desperately wanted the baby out of me.

Kanda wrapped his arms around me. "Just breathe, Moyashi. It's almost over. When the nurse comes back, it'll be time for you to start pushing. The baby will be here before you know it."

He began rubbing my ear, and I felt myself nodding off. But another contraction came and forced me awake. This one was an entirely different kind of pain. And it was coupled with an overwhelming urge to push that took all of my willpower to ignore. When the contraction passed, I collapsed back against my husband's chest, wishing I could borrow some of that strength. "I can't do this."

"Yes, you can, Allen. You're the strongest out of all of us. You killed the Millennium Earl less than an hour ago, this should be a piece of cake compared to that." I glared at Lenalee. I didn't want her cheerleading.

I felt Kanda questioning me with his gaze, but there wasn't time to acknowledge him. Nurse Sarah had returned as well, and she spoke up from where she was examining me. It was more than a little unnerving that I hadn't noticed she was down there. "The baby's starting to crown, Allen. You'll have to start pushing with your next contraction."

She adjusted the way my legs were spread, bending my knees and pushing my feet closer to my body. She had me grab my shins and hold my legs in that position. I wanted to question it, but she talked the whole time she was working. "I tried to convince one of the doctors to come, but they were all too busy with the aftermath of the battle. So you're stuck with me. I trained as a midwife though, so I at least know what I'm doing."

I tensed as another contraction started. I could hear voices telling me to push and to breathe, but I couldn't tell whose they were. The pain between my legs grew as I struggled to bear down and push the baby out of me. But the contraction passed before I succeeded.

I collapsed against Kanda, feeling the baby slip back into me and undo the progress I'd just made. I knew I was swearing, but I wasn't putting any thought into the words.

It seemed like the next contraction started as soon as I had caught my breath. This one hurt more than the others had, but I stuck with my pushing, and I was rewarded with a sense of relief as it faded. Nurse Sarah smiled happily at me. "The baby's head is out. She's got the most adorable pair of cat ears. You're going to have to push harder with the next contraction to get the shoulders out, Allen, but be careful so that you don't hurt yourself."

I nodded at the nurse's words, wondering how on earth I could push harder than I was; I was already on the last of my energy reserves. Kanda's arms squeezed my shoulders a little tighter in a silent gesture of support. My time to recover was short, and I was once again pushing with the pain.

The burning pressure between my legs peaked as I pushed, making me scream uncontrollably as tears slid down my cheeks. But right as the pain was at its worst, something was sliding out of me. The pain faded back down to tolerable levels, and I knew it was over. My baby was no longer inside me.

The eerie silence in the room was suddenly broken by the sound of a baby crying, and I somehow found the strength to look down to see my daughter. She looked so tiny and fragile in the nurse's hands. She was covered in blood and whatnot from the birth, but I didn't see any of that. In my eyes, she was perfect. Not even her cat ears and tail could change that.

Kanda kissed the top of my head. "Congratulations, Moyashi. You did it. We have a daughter."

He moved my head so that we could kiss. When we broke apart, I looked for my baby and began to panic when I didn't see her. The nurse was still between my legs, but she was no longer holding the baby. "Relax, Allen, Lenalee has her. She's getting her cleaned up. Right now, I need you to concentrate on me. Your contractions are about to start again so that you can deliver the afterbirth."

"Huh?"

Kanda laughed briefly at my confusion. "You're so clueless, Moyashi. Did you even read that part of the books? There's stuff inside your body that has to come out now that it's not supporting the baby."

I would have blushed if I'd had any energy left. "Oh, right."

Sarah smiled at my confusion. "Don't worry about it, Allen. Just push when I tell you to, and then you'll be able to hold your baby."

I let her coach me through it without paying much attention to what was happening. I was focused solely on the corner of the room where my baby's cries were coming from. When it was over, the nurse helped me loosen my grip on my shins and guided my legs to a more relaxed position. Then Lenalee was placing a wrapped bundle in my arms.

Everything else disappeared as I held my daughter in my arms for the first time. I knew I was crying, but I didn't care. She was absolutely perfect. Even with the navy cat ears that lay folded against her head. She had inherited Kanda's hair color, but that appeared to be the only thing she got from him. Her facial features seemed to be more Caucasian than Asian. Kanda laughed lightly in my ear. "She looks like your mother, Moyashi."

I elbowed him as I adjusted my grip to free my right hand. I ran my thumb gently along her cheek. It didn't seem like all that long ago that I was panicking over finding out I was pregnant, and now here she was in my arms, and I already couldn't imagine life without her.

The crying had stopped when she'd been placed in my arms, but it suddenly picked back up again. Panic bubbled up inside me as I wondered what I was supposed to do to calm her down. I looked to the others for help, but they all looked as confused as I felt.

Not knowing what else to do, I gave in to my instinct to babble at my little girl as I adjusted how I was holding her. She stopped fussing ever so briefly when I moved her, but she just continued to cry. Logically, I knew that I wasn't going to be a perfect parent after only a few minutes of having a baby, but it was so terrifying and heartbreaking that I couldn't soothe my own baby that I was about to lose it.

Right before I burst into tears, Nurse Sarah finally spoke up. "It's a little early, but you could try feeding her, Allen."

The suggestion made me blush, but as embarrassing as the fact that I was lactating was, that was nothing compared to the relief I felt at finally knowing of a way to comfort my screaming child. And on top of that, it was something that the doctors and nurses had already taught me how to do.

I quickly moved my free hand to the top button of my shirt, but when I struggled to unbutton it and support my child at the same time, Kanda chuckled and pushed my hand away. He undid the buttons himself, allowing me to use both hands to bring the baby's head to my exposed chest.

She stopped crying as her tiny little nose twitched, and I knew in that instant that her cat traits went as deep as mine did; she could smell the milk that I was producing. It was a disturbing thought, but at the moment, I only felt relieved that being fed was truly what she wanted. It took a couple tries to get her to latch on, but once she did, she eagerly began suckling. It was a strange feeling, but the sight was just too precious for me to care.

Kanda laid his chin on my shoulder, and even though I couldn't see it, I could tell that he was smiling. The birth of our daughter meant just as much to him as it did to me, and even though he'd probably never say it to anyone other than me and her, he was happy to have her.

I knew that I should probably give Kanda a chance to hold our baby, but after she was done nursing, she snuggled closer to me, and she was just so precious that I couldn't let her go. I wasn't ready to share her just yet. Besides, I wanted to see Kanda's reaction when he held our daughter for the first time, and if I knew my husband as well as I thought I did, he wasn't going to show his true feelings unless we were alone.


	41. Chapter 41

A/N: Thanks for reviewing! I apologize in advance for what happens to the baby in this chapter...

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

Once the baby was calmed down and happy, the atmosphere in the room relaxed. Lenalee sat down on the bed beside me. Her smile may have been gentle, but I could tell that she was barely containing her curiosity, and I knew exactly what the first words out of her mouth were going to be; after all, she'd been begging me to tell her this for months. "So what's her name?"

I moved my free hand down to where my daughter had worked one of her tiny arms free of her blanket. I gently stroked her hand, loving the feeling of her soft skin under my fingers. "Erika."

"Then you settled on something Japanese. I thought you would have put up more of a fight for something Western, Allen." Lenalee cooed in excitement when Erika wrapped her tiny fingers around my finger.

I smiled at how disappointed she sounded. "It's actually both. It means 'blessed flower' in Japanese and 'noble' in Western cultures."

"It's beautiful." Lenalee ran her finger along Erika's tiny ones, making the baby squeeze mine a little tighter. "Erika Kanda. She'll-"

"Walker. It's Erika Walker." Kanda was quick and forceful in his correction. We had discussed it several times over the past several months, but I still didn't quite understand why he was so adamant that our daughter take my last name.

I could tell Lenalee was giving us a weird look, but I couldn't tear my eyes away from Erika to actually see it. "Really?"

I shrugged. "We decided on it back when we first found out I was pregnant. Or rather, _he_ decided and told me to shut up and deal with it."

Kanda snorted in annoyance and flicked my ear. "Do I have to explain it to you _again,_ Moyashi? With your last name, we can let all the stupid people assume that you're her father, instead of having to explain to them how _my_ daughter has _your_ cat features."

Lenalee's laughter cut off my retort. "Can you two knock off the fighting? You just had a baby together for crying out loud."

.x.x.

As the chaos from the attack began to wind down, the news that Allen had gone into labor spread like wildfire. Komui rushed to the infirmary as soon as he heard the news, bumping into Lavi along the way. The redhead had been recalled from his mission but had unfortunately arrived too late to join the fight.

They reached Allen's room just in time to witness a confrontation between a doctor and a nurse. Nurse Sarah had seated herself in a chair blocking the door, and as she was beyond pissed that no one had taken the time to listen to her, she was taking out her frustrations on the doctor.

"What's happening?" Komui quickly interrupted them before a fight broke out.

Without breaking her glare on the hapless doctor, Sarah spoke. "Allen delivered a healthy baby girl twenty five minutes ago."

Lavi snickered at what he thought was a joke. "You say that like he actually gave birth naturally."

"He did." Her glare shifted briefly onto the redhead, but then it went right back to the doctor.

Concerned and confused, Komui cleared his throat to make the nurse focus. "How is that possible?"

Sarah's glare hardened. "I don't know. When he arrived here after the battle, his water had broken and he was almost fully dilated. I went to fetch a doctor, and when I got back, the baby was starting to crown. This idiot wouldn't believe me and went to prep for the surgery instead of helping with the delivery."

The doctor started to argue, but he was silenced by Komui. "We can discuss that later." He nodded politely at Sarah, who was still blocking the door. "Can I go in and see them?"

"Of course." She moved aside to let Komui and Lavi enter, but closed the door on the doctor.

Allen made the mistake of trying to sit up when the door opened. He winced at the pain that filled his body, his sore muscles screamed when he tried to use them. Kanda laughed and pulled him back down against his chest. "Just relax, Moyashi. Let your body rest."

The neko immediately protested against the command. "But-"

Kanda snorted and flicked his husband's ear, cutting him off before he could complain. "You just pushed a seven pound baby out of your body. Your argument is invalid."

Allen looked to Lenalee for help, but she just shook her head, keeping silent to keep from laughing out loud. His next words were drowned out by Lavi squealing with excitement as he bounded over. "Oh my God! She's adorable! And those itty bitty cat ears! What a beautiful little kitty!"

To Allen's relief, the baby didn't immediately start screaming at the decibel of Lavi's voice. Lenalee rushed to clasp a hand over the redhead's mouth before he could babble more. "You're being too loud."

Lavi shoved her hand away, but he knew better than to argue with her and kept his mouth shut.

Komui approached the bed much more calmly than the excitable Bookman apprentice, though he too was thrilled to see Allen's baby for the first time. He asked Allen some routine questions about what had happened and how he was feeling. Allen answered them as best he could, but he wasn't really paying attention to the questions; his focus was solely reserved for Erika. But that all ended when Komui asked something that made Allen panic. "Can I look at her?"

The neko's silver eyes widened, and he pulled his baby closer to his chest as a way of protecting her. Kanda smirked at the reaction, but he still set about calming him down. He placed a gentle kiss on the top of the neko's head. "It's ok, Moyashi. He just wants to make sure that she's healthy. He's not going to do anything to her."

Allen frowned, but he still held Erika out for Komui to take; he may not have liked it, but he knew that Kanda was right. The supervisor gently lifted the baby out of her mother's arms, and she immediately started wailing. He adjusted the way he was holding her, but that only seemed to make things worse.

Stepping in, Lenalee took the baby from her brother, but Erika never stopped sobbing. She tried several techniques to calm the baby, but none of them worked. If anything, Erika only screamed more. Finally noticing the growing look of panic on Allen's face, she gave the baby back to him.

The second Erika was settled in his arms, her cries stopped. Allen pulled her close to his chest and glared at the others, making it clear that they were all in trouble for making her cry. Lenalee squeezed his shoulder gently and tried to make light of the situation. "Well, she definitely knows who her mother is."

Everyone smiled at the joke. Komui, however, was focused on something else. He'd noticed a couple things in the newborn's behavior that concerned him. "Allen, has she opened her eyes yet?"

The question startled Allen into finally looking away from Erika. The oddness of the question scared him to the core. "No. Why?"

Komui did his very best to keep his voice level. There was no need to make Allen panic just yet. "Most babies open their eyes within minutes of their birth. It's probably nothing, but the fact that she hasn't yet could be a sign of something serious. I won't know until I get a closer look though. Will you...?"

Once again, Erika's cries reached heart wrenching levels when she was taken from Allen. And once again, she was perfectly content the second she was returned to her mother. It only confirmed Komui's suspicions. Not only had the baby not opened her eyes, but she wasn't responding to noises.

Instead of taking the baby, and risking another crying incident, Komui had Allen hold Erika in such a way so that he could examine her without taking her away from her mother. It was awkward, but at least there wasn't any screaming. When the exam was finished, he backed away slowly, intentionally placing himself outside of arm's length.

Allen's heart stopped at the way Komui was behaving. He knew something must be horribly wrong with his daughter for the man to act like that. He needed answers, and he needed them _now_. "What is it? What's wrong with my baby?!"

The supervisor sighed heavily as he pulled off his hat and ran a hand through his hair. He didn't want to be the one to break this news to the new mother, but he knew that if he didn't say something soon, the teen would only grow more hysterical, and it was incredibly important that they keep Allen as calm as possible. "This is without a doubt the hardest thing I've ever had to tell you, Allen-kun." His breath hitched briefly and his composure faltered. "Your daughter is deaf."

He waited for the reactions to die down slightly before he continued, mildly surprised that Allen hadn't started screaming yet. "It gets worse. ... She hasn't opened her eyes yet because she's blind."

The only sound in the room following the diagnosis was Allen crying, everyone else was stunned into silence. He clutched his newborn baby to his chest and sobbed over her. He loved her so much, and that news was completely heartbreaking. The bright future he'd wanted for his precious daughter was gone. Even her fate as an accommodator would have been better than this.

The others all looked away as their eyes got misty. They couldn't bear to see Allen break down like that.

As always, Kanda was the first to get control over his emotions. He pulled his husband closer and began to rub soothing circles on his shoulders. "Hey Lavi."

The redhead looked up at the sudden mention of his name, confused as to why Kanda wanted to talk to him right now and mildly stunned by the use of his proper name. "Yeah?"

Kanda fixed the redhead with a fierce stare, hoping it conveyed just how important his next question was. "I read something in one of those books you gave Allen, but I can't quite remember it. Did you read them?"

Lavi blinked in confusion, not understanding how that was relevant to the current situation. "Is now really the time to be concerned with-?"

"Just answer the question." Kanda's hiss was full of urgency.

He swallowed hard. "Yes, I read them."

As he spoke, Kanda moved his hands from Allen's shoulders to helping him support the baby. "One of them had something about newborn kittens, about how they're all born-"

Finally catching on, Lavi finished Kanda's thought. "Deaf and blind."

He recalled the passage Kanda was referring to, and smiled brightly as he figured out what the samurai was getting at. "It said that it can take a kitten up to a week to be able to hear, and another before it can see."

The relief in the room was palpable. Kanda focused his attention back on the still sobbing Allen. "Did you hear that, Moyashi? Erika is going to be fine. She can't hear or see right now because she's part cat. But she will grow into it. She's not going to be this way forever."

Allen looked up with tear filled eyes, first at his husband, then at Komui. He wanted confirmation from the man who had made the diagnosis that started all this.

Komui smiled softly at him. He wasn't sure about this and wanted to do some tests to determine whether or not it was true, but right now, it was better to tell Allen it was the truth, rather than just a shaky theory; the priority was calming the neko down before he did something stupid. "He's right, Allen. It probably won't take the full two weeks either. She should be fine in just a few days."

As Allen sighed in relief, the exhaustion from childbirth and the battle finally hit him. He yawned deeply and it was written all over his face that he needed sleep. Nurse Sarah cleared her throat, stepping in and doing what was best for her patient. "Visiting hours are over now. It's time to give the new parents some time alone with their baby."

Everyone filed out without protest, having either seen Allen yawn or not wanting to upset the nurse. They started talking as soon as the door closed behind them, but that only lasted for a few seconds. Kanda threw something that made the door rattle. "We can still hear you! Go away!"

.x.x.

Seeing how exhausted the Moyashi was, I climbed off the bed so that he could lay down and go to sleep. He whined when I moved, making me think I'd jostled him too much and hurt him, but the way he grabbed my sleeve contradicted that. "Don't go."

I rolled my eyes at his childish tone. "Then scoot over, Moyashi."

He immediately slid over, making room for me to lay down beside him. It was a little cramped with all three of us on a bed meant for one, but it was far more comfortable than our original positions. The Moyashi was silent for a while after that, but I could tell he hadn't fallen asleep. So I pushed myself up onto my elbow to get a better look at him. He was staring at the baby with a conflicted look on his face. "Eri really is going to be ok, Moyashi. She'll open her eyes in a few days and then everything will be fine."

"No, that's not it." He shook his head and gave me a hesitant smile. "I want you to hold her, but I don't want her to start screaming again."

The words made me freeze. I desperately wanted to hold my baby, but at the same time, I didn't want to even touch her because I was terrified of accidentally hurting her. But I also knew that Allen wasn't going to want to let go of her any time soon, so I had planned to just wait until _he_ was ready and hope that I'd be ready too. "There's no rush, Moyashi. I can wait."

That made him laugh. "I'm sure you can. ...But if she's not going to let anyone but me hold her, then these next few weeks are going to be really hard. And that's something we should figure out sooner rather than later."

I rolled my eyes at the look on his face. "Fine. But if she doesn't start crying again then you have to promise to close your eyes and get some sleep."

He giggled and then held Erika out to me. I took her hesitantly, though I felt a lot better when she didn't immediately start crying as Allen let go of her. I pulled her close to my chest, still scared that the screaming would start once she realized that I wasn't her mother.

Instead, she fell asleep.

I blinked at the baby in my arms, but before I could react to the completely unexpected action, a faint rumbling filled the air and the baby's chest started vibrating. It was a very familiar feeling for me, though I was used to the Moyashi being the one to do it, and I couldn't help smiling as all of my worries melted away. Erika was purring.

Allen groaned dramatically as he collapsed back against the pillows. "That's not fair! She's less than an hour old and she already likes you better than me."

I shot him a look, but he laughed and smirked at me. "I'm just teasing, Yuu. She feels safe with you, like she already knows that you're going to do everything in your power to protect her. And that's exactly the way it should be." He let out a big yawn before giving me a real smile. "Now, protect our daughter while I take a nap."


	42. Chapter 42

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews!

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

While Kanda watched over his sleeping husband and newborn daughter, the effort to clean up headquarters began. A survey of the damage had determined that the building was still functional enough to make repairing it far easier and cheaper than moving to a new location, so it was decided that even though the enemy knew where they were, staying in place was the best course of action. The dining hall was the top priority, as everyone needed to be fed, so it was the first to be cleaned of the wreckage. It was surprising how much damage there was when the fighting was all supposed to have occurred elsewhere, but when the workers unearthed the dead body of the Millennium Earl, that destruction suddenly made sense.

The cleanup effort came to a screeching halt at the discovery, and while most everyone observed the scene in stunned silence, someone had the sense to call for the proper assistance. Komui and Teidoll, the only general present who wasn't in the infirmary, came as soon as they heard the news, needing to see it with their own eyes. They too were stunned at first, but they were quick to take control of the situation. They ordered the workers to move the body down to a secure laboratory, for testing to find out whether or not it actually was the Earl, and swore everyone who had seen it to absolute secrecy. The last thing anyone needed was for word to get out that the Earl was dead and then have it turn out to be some sort of trick.

The thing that concerned them the most was that they hadn't known that the Earl had been part of the battle. Komui had personally kept track of all of the communications during the fight and not one single person had reported seeing the Earl, supporting his theory that the body was fake. So the first order of business was to question the exorcists and find out which, if any, of them had encountered the Earl and failed to report it.

It was an easy task when all of the exorcists they needed to question were in the same place within headquarters, but the infirmary was still in a state of chaos, and questioning the patients without upsetting the nurses was rather difficult. Eventually, all of the exorcists were questioned save for those who actually knew, because Komui didn't believe that his precious little sister would have not reported seeing the Earl. Teidoll, on the other hand, was now pretty certain that it was Kanda who had encountered the Earl, but when Komui insisted that none of the remaining exorcists knew anything because they'd been helping Allen deliver his baby, the general immediately got sidetracked.

.x.x.

I only managed to sleep for a few hours. I woke up exhausted and sore, knowing that I needed more rest than I had gotten, but I just couldn't make myself sleep any longer when I knew that my baby was finally here. My desire to be with my newborn daughter was far greater than my concern for my health.

Kanda tried to convince me to go back to sleep, and no matter what I said on the matter, he still refused to hand the sleeping baby over. It was nice seeing him be possessive of Erika, but that didn't ease the frustration I felt over not being able to hold her in my arms. However, before we could really start fighting, Erika woke up and decided that she was hungry. I felt a little triumphant at that, as I now had a reason to be awake and Kanda had no choice but to give the baby to me, but at the same time, I knew that he wasn't going to let the issue drop.

Breastfeeding felt just as weird the second time around, but having my baby be that close to me was really nice. I was so terrified of her future, of what would happen if she remained blind and deaf, but when I was holding her like that, I could forget all about my fears and focus on how beautiful she was. She was worth all the pain and frustration of the last nine months.

Not long after Erika finished eating, there was a timid knock on the door. I didn't have to listen harder to know who was there; I knew exactly who our first visitor was going to be. "Come in, Miranda."

She smiled shyly as she stuck her head inside the room, and I was relieved to see that her forehead had been bandaged and her skin was a lot less pale than it was the last time I saw her. Her smile brightened when she saw the baby in my arms, and she quickly made her way over to the bed. "She's gorgeous, Allen!"

I blushed at the compliment. "She is."

Miranda hesitantly reached out and brushed her finger along Eri's cheek, and then she sat down in the chair beside the bed, her eyes never once leaving the baby. "Did you actually give birth to her?"

I nodded and started to tell Miranda about everything she had missed after the nurse had dragged her off, but before I could really get into the story, we were interrupted by the bang of the door being thrown open. The loud noise startled me and for that brief moment, I was thankful that Erika was deaf and didn't hear it. I looked up to yell at the intruder, but instead, I had to smother a laugh.

General Teidoll stood awestruck in the doorway for a moment before he began sobbing and collapsed to the floor at the foot of the bed.

Kanda stiffened beside me and growled at the antics of his former teacher. I shared a knowing look with Miranda, but before either of us could comment on Teidoll's joyful tears, Komui appeared in the doorway. Which certainly explained how Teidoll knew where we were. Kanda's glare shifted to the supervisor and he snarled at him. "You just had to tell him, didn't you?"

Komui had the sense to look ashamed. "I'm sorry, but we were investigating something else, and it just slipped out when I was trying to get him to leave you alone. It was not my intention to tell him."

Kanda's glare morphed into a scowl, and I could tell from the expression that he didn't believe that Komui's apology was sincere. I was planning to take this opportunity to butt in and change the subject, but when Kanda suddenly became completely alert, I waited to see what it was that had caught his attention. "'Investigating'? What are you investigating?"

I froze at the question, knowing _exactly_ what was coming next. And the conflicted look on Komui's face only confirmed my suspicions; they had found the Earl's body. I sighed heavily and held Erika tighter, needing the strength and comfort she gave me to say what I knew I had to say. "This is about the Earl, isn't it?"

The silence that followed my question was eerie. Komui just blinked at me, and I knew that he had already figured out what had happened and was having difficulty processing it. Teidoll had stopped crying, his happy smile morphing into a confused frown. Kanda brushed a hand into my hair, turning my head to make me look at him. To an outside observer, he may have simply looked shocked, but I saw the fear in his eyes; he was terrified by the idea that I had run into the Earl during the attack. "Moyashi? You...?"

I nodded shakily at the unspoken question as I ran a finger along our daughter's cheek, needing the confirmation that she truly was here and alive. I _really_ didn't want to talk about what had happened with the Earl right now, but since the subject had come up, I may as well get it all out in the open. It was the only way to calm everyone down. "He showed up while Miranda and I were waiting out the fight. He attacked us, and I fought back."

I was going to say more, but right at that moment, Miranda burst into tears and threw herself at me. While the others were stunned by the way she started sobbing and screeching out apologies, I had known it was coming; I'd known Miranda for a long time, and while her outbursts had calmed considerably, she was there when the Earl attacked me, and I knew that that was something that was going to set her off.

I did my best to try to stop Miranda's repeated apologies, forcing myself to remain calm and keeping a relaxed smile on my face, but she was so worked up that it didn't seem like anything was going to calm her down. But just as I started debating sending someone to fetch Marie, Miranda suddenly got deathly quiet. "I understand if you don't want me to be the baby's godmother anymore. I failed to protect you when it mattered most."

The words startled me. I could understand why she blamed herself for me having to fight, but I couldn't fathom how she got from that to thinking that I would no longer want her to be Erika's godmother. Reaching out with my free hand, I grabbed one of hers and squeezed it tightly. "But you _did_ protect us, Miranda."

"But-"

The protest nearly made me laugh, but I held it in and continued to speak to her calmly and rationally. "You protected us by not protecting us. If anyone else had been watching over me, I wouldn't have had to fight, and not only would the Earl still be alive, but he might have gotten his way and taken the baby. It's only because it was you that things turned out the way they did. And I'm very thankful for that."

Miranda blushed deeply and started crying again, but these were tears of relief and happiness, so they were much easier to ignore. I turned my attention back on the others to find Kanda staring slack-jawed at me, and this time the horror he felt was glaringly obvious. Knowing that the best way to calm him down was to let him hold Erika, I handed the baby over as I resumed my explanation, even though I really didn't want to let go of her. "My water broke while we were fighting, and that's when he threatened to take the baby from me. I wasn't about to let that happen, so I killed him."

Kanda relaxed, but he held the baby closer to his chest, and I knew that he was still beating himself up for leaving my side during the attack. I wanted to comfort him more, but we needed to be alone for that. Besides, Komui had finally returned to his usual self, and I now had his endless questions to deal with. "So it was the fighting that sent you into labor."

I shook my head. "No. It might have made it progress faster, but I was in labor before headquarters was attacked."

It was clear from the way that Kanda clicked his tongue that he was about to lecture me for not telling him that I was in labor, but Komui didn't give him the chance. "And are you sure that it was actually the Earl that you killed? It wasn't some sort of illusion or body double?"

The question scared me more than a little. The thought that the Earl might still be alive was beyond terrifying. It took a moment to beat down the panic that began to bubble up, and then I glared at Komui. "I was before you suggested _that_."

Taking a deep breath to calm myself down, I tried to approach the subject rationally. "From what Lenalee told me about the fight, the Noah retreated when I delivered the final blow, and-" I cut off as a very different thought occurred to me. "Hold on a second."

 _ **Hey, Neah?**_

There was a moment of silence while I waited for him to respond. _**Can you make it quick, Allen? I'm a little busy at the moment. Something happened to the Earl.**_

I blinked in surprise; after what Komui had just said, I was half expecting to hear that the entire fight was some sort of trick. _**Actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. I-**_

I could almost picture Neah snapping to attention as he cut me off. _**Wait. You know what happened? Tell me everything!**_

The force of his demand made me blanch. _**They attacked our headquarters, and-**_

 _ **What?!**_ Neah was practically screaming in my ear. _**Why the hell didn't you call me?**_

I sighed heavily and rolled my eyes. _**Because I was a little**_ _busy_ _ **, Neah. The Earl came after me during the attack and I had to defend myself.**_

He let out a snort of derision, clearly not believing what I'd just told him. _**You fought the Earl? In your current condition? Really?**_

Wanting to keep the conversation on topic, I decided to not tell him that I'd given birth. I was also more than a little offended by his disbelief. _**Yes, really. He threatened to take the baby from me. I wasn't just going to sit there and let him take her.**_

There was an awkward silence as I waited for Neah to respond. His voice in my head was quiet from shock. _**So you killed him?**_

 _ **Yes.**_ I paused to collect myself. As scary as this was to think about, it was the reason why I had chosen to reach out to Neah. _**Or at least, I thought I did. Komui seems to think it was some sort of trick, and that he might not really be dead. And that's why I called you. I figured you might know which of us is right.**_

After a moment of thought, Neah responded with a heavy sigh. _**Given what I felt happen and everything that you've told me, I'm inclined to say that he's really dead.**_

That made me feel ridiculously happy, but Neah's next words had me crashing back down. _**However, Komui is not wrong. There definitely is a possibility that this might be some sort of ruse. The Earl always seems to have some sort of trick up his sleeves, and it wouldn't surprise me at all to find out that this is one of them.**_

 _ **Then why did you say-!**_

He cut off my indignant outburst with a laugh, definitely expressing amusement at my expense. _**Look, I'll know which it is the second I see the Earl's body in person, so don't freak out on me just yet. I'll be there in an hour, and then we'll know. Ok?**_

When I returned my attention to the room around me, Komui was looking really agitated. "Are you even listening to me, Allen?"

"Of course he's not." Kanda laughed, and when he caught the way I was frowning at him, he tousled my hair. "So what did Neah say?"

It was simultaneously touching and troubling that he knew me well enough to be able to tell when I was speaking telepathically with Neah. "He's on his way here to see the body for himself, but the Earl is probably dead."


	43. Chapter 43

A/N: Sorry for the delay, but this chapter was a pain to write. Anyway, as you've might have guessed, we're almost at the end of this story. Sort of. There's just a little bit left before a time skip to when Eri's older, so when I hit that point, I'm going to end this story and start a new one. Hopefully you'll stick around for it. Depending on how long the story arcs end up being, there are either two or three chapters left. Chapter 44 will be posted in three weeks (I don't update the week of Thanksgiving), and we'll see what happens from there.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

I didn't think it was possible for the Moyashi to be more amazing. He had carried our child inside his body for the last nine months, dealing with all of that physical stress and strain, and on top of that, he had found the strength to actually give birth to her naturally, which had clearly been a horrifyingly painful experience. He was already so spectacular, and then he had to go and tell us that not only had he fought and killed the Earl, he'd done it while he was in labor.

And I, meanwhile, hadn't even noticed that he was experiencing contractions.

I already felt awful about leaving him alone during the fight, and this just made me feel even worse. I was a terrible husband.

But I wasn't ever going to say that out loud, as I knew exactly what Allen was going to say in response to that. He wasn't going to give me crap for being too hard on myself or get angry with me for abandoning him in his hour of need; no, he was going to say word for word what he'd just said to Miranda. And while his logic was sound and everything really had worked out for the best - both the Moyashi and the baby were perfectly fine - it did little to make me feel better about the whole ordeal.

What did make me feel better was the way Allen kept giving me Erika to hold. He clearly already knew what I was thinking - something that he was way too good at - and letting me hold our daughter was his way of telling me that he disagreed with me. But for me, it meant that he still loved and trusted me; if he were as upset with me as I was with myself, he wouldn't be letting me touch his baby, let alone hold her like that. And as long as I knew that the Moyashi still loved me, I knew that I would eventually be able to forgive myself for being so horribly inattentive earlier.

Unlike the others, I didn't doubt that the Earl was really dead. It was no secret that all the way back when he first came to the Order, Hevlaska had prophesied that Allen would be the one to kill the Earl, and even back then - back when I was convinced that the Moyashi was weak and naïve and was going to get himself killed - I knew that he could do it. He just needed the proper motivation. And today he had finally found it. Allen had killed the Earl not just to protect someone important to him, but to protect himself. He was finally letting go of his martyr complex.

Annoyingly, when Komui excused himself to go get ready to meet with Neah, he did not take Teidoll with him. Instead, he left the crazy old artist in the room with us. Though if I'm being fair, not even the supervisor, with an official mission, would be able to get Teidoll to leave his newborn granddaughter, so I couldn't really blame Komui for not even trying. Even though I desperately wanted to.

The moment we were alone, Teidoll sat down on Allen's bed, as close as he could get to the baby. And since I was the one holding her, that meant that he was invading my personal space. It was uncomfortable and irritating having him that close to me, so I ignored him as best I could while he fawned over Erika and babbled at her in baby talk. It actually ended up being really easy to do, as I had years of practice tuning Teidoll out, and I don't think I'd ever grow tired of looking at my daughter. Erika was absolutely beautiful. From her navy cat ears to her tiny little fingers, she was everything I wanted back when the Moyashi first told me he was pregnant.

My attempts to ignore Teidoll came to a screeching halt when he tried to take the baby from me. I wasn't about to let that happen, and I couldn't help snarling as I shoved him away. "Don't you dare touch her."

Rather than making him back off, it only made Teidoll laugh. "Oh stop being so selfish, Yuu-kun. I just want to hold my granddaughter for a little bit. It's not like I'm going to run away with her."

Allen placed a hand on my shoulder, stopping me from lunging at Teidoll over the comment. His voice was calm and gentle when he spoke, but I could feel his hand shake with fear as he talked about our daughter's issues. "That's not it at all, General. He doesn't want you to make her cry, that's all. Erika won't let anyone but me and him hold her."

Teidoll frowned and shook his head at the Moyashi. "You don't need to make excuses for him, Allen. He's never going to grow up if you're always enabling him."

I pulled Eri closer to my chest when Teidoll once again reached out to take her from me. I glared back at him, angry that he was _still_ treating me like an unruly child after all these years; I was also a little pissed at the fact that he was using that patronizing tone of his on my Moyashi. "It's not an excuse. Eri's deaf and blind, so she's relying on her other senses right now. She cries whenever anyone who isn't us touches her."

This time Teidoll snorted and rolled his eyes, making it clear that he still didn't believe us. "Deaf _and_ blind? That's ridiculous. The odds of her being both of those things are incredibly low. Besides, she's only a couple hours old; there's no way you can know that already."

His disbelief made me even more frustrated with him than I already was. "All kittens are born that way. And Erika's a neko, so she was too."

Allen let out a defeated sigh as he returned his hand to my shoulder. "Just let him hold her, Yuu. I know you don't want to hear her cry, but he clearly doesn't believe us and that's the easiest way to prove it to him."

I frowned at the suggestion, but his reasoning unfortunately made sense, so I didn't fight him when he took the baby from me and placed her in Teidoll's outstretched arms. Exactly like she'd done earlier, the moment Allen let go of her, Erika started crying. However, unlike earlier, rather than simply screaming in discomfort and confusion, when Teidoll was holding her, Erika was screaming bloody murder, wailing louder than she did with Komui or Lenalee. It almost sounded like she was in pain, and it broke my heart to hear her cry like that. Fortunately, Allen was just as upset as I was, if not more, so he was quick to take her back, and her cries subsided to silent tears before she fell asleep in her mother's arms.

Once Erika was calm and quiet, I let my attention return to the room around me. Teidoll looked scared to death, but then, he was facing one of the Moyashi's fiercest glares, so it was reasonable to be terrified. I snorted as I flicked Allen's ear. "It was your idea, Moyashi. Calm down."

He turned his glare on me, but I silenced his protest with a kiss, rubbing his ear to try to get him to relax. Meanwhile, Teidoll started crying, like I knew he would; he was depressed over being rejected by the baby. I didn't want to deal with him, so I continued to focus on the Moyashi and our baby.

But I didn't have to deal with Teidoll. It usually came back to bite me whenever I forgot that Miranda was around - Marie's wife was so shy that she often faded into the background - but this time the way she suddenly spoke up out of nowhere was actually helpful. Miranda grabbed Teidoll's elbow and guided him off the bed and towards the door. "Come on, General. That's enough moping around. Sitting there crying isn't doing anyone any good. It's way past dinner time and Allen hasn't eaten since lunch. Let's make ourselves useful and go get him some food."

The suggestion was immediately followed by the sound of the Moyashi's stomach growling, so even though he was reluctant to leave the baby, Teidoll was quick to follow Miranda out of the room.

.x.x.

Like he had told Allen, Neah only needed to look at the Earl's body to determine that he truly was dead. However, it took quite a bit longer than that for him to wrap his head around the idea that the Earl was gone. He had been working towards this for so long and it was hard to process that it was finally done. While he was proud of Allen for doing it, he was a little disappointed that he hadn't been able to deliver the final blow himself.

Komui wouldn't let him dwell on that though, as the man was constantly peppering with questions about how certain he was and how he knew that the Earl was really dead. No matter what he said, he couldn't seem to convince the man that he was confident, and Komui continued to insist that he wanted to do his own tests to confirm it. "Suit yourself. By the way, where's Allen? I thought he'd be here for this."

The stupidity of the question made Komui laugh, as he didn't know that Allen hadn't told his uncle that he'd given birth. "He wanted to be, but you know that he's going to be stuck in the infirmary until he recovers. The-"

The sentence went unfinished as Neah bolted from the room, panicking over the thought of Allen having been injured during the fight; the kid was heavily pregnant - _any_ injury he'd sustained was going to be life threatening.

.x.x.

It didn't take long for Teidoll and Miranda to return with food, though it certainly felt like it; I'd been starving ever since they reminded me that I hadn't eaten since before all the chaos of the afternoon. The cart they pushed was overflowing with my favorite things, quite a few of which I hadn't eaten since I'd gotten pregnant. I was happy to see the pile of food, both out of hunger and because it meant that the kitchen had survived the attack.

Miranda laughed at the way I was drooling as she picked a plate off the cart and handed it to Kanda - she had even thought to bring his usual order of soba for him. "Jerry wanted to bring you the food himself, Allen, but he couldn't leave the kitchen; there was just too much work to be done. He really wants to see the baby though, so I'm sure he'll be bringing you breakfast in the morning."

It was difficult eating while holding my daughter, but there wasn't anywhere to put her, and Kanda was also eating, so I did the best I could. Miranda was clearly still feeling guilty about what happened during the fight, as she immediately volunteered to go fetch the bassinet from our room when she saw how much trouble I was having eating one handed. I protested, I didn't think it was necessary to bring the bassinet down just so that I could eat easily, but she ignored me. On the other hand, she dragged Teidoll with her, and I knew that Kanda appreciated that she kept coming up with ways to keep the general busy, so I wasn't going to press the issue.

They also brought Timcanpy back with them - I'd left him in the room for lunch and then forgot all about him in the chaos of the attack. The way he silently lectured me for ignoring him was amusing, and I couldn't help laughing at him, even though he was clearly pissed with me. He forgot all about his anger though when he noticed the baby, and he spent the rest of the day perched on her bassinet and baring his teeth at anyone who got close to her.

As much as I hadn't wanted to set Erika down, I did have to admit that eating was a whole lot easier with her in the bassinet and out of the way. And on top of that, I didn't have to worry about getting her sticky while I enjoyed mitarashi dango for the first time in seven months.

Kanda was silent while we ate, which wasn't really unusual for him, but I knew exactly what he was going to say once I was done eating, so I wasn't about to complain about his silence. And I was right. The second I set down my utensils, my husband was trying to convince me to go to sleep.

I ignored him, taking Eri out of her bassinet and holding her close to my chest. Kanda continued to complain about how I should take better care of myself, but all I cared about was my baby. That tiny, little neko was gorgeous.

Kanda was eventually silenced when the door to the room was thrown open dramatically for the second time that day. The question of which of our crazy relatives had discovered I'd had the baby was answered not a second later, when Neah stumbled into the room.

He looked incredibly panicked, and it took me a second to recall that I knew he was coming and that I hadn't told him about the baby. He had probably only heard that I was in the infirmary and assumed that I'd been injured in the fight. This was going to be an awkward conversation. "Hey, Neah."

He took a moment to collect himself before he spoke. "You had the baby."

Before I could respond, his demeanor completely changed. He went from stunned to overly excited in a heartbeat. "Can I see where they cut you open?"

The question made me blush, which in turn made Kanda laugh. "They didn't cut him open. He gave birth naturally."

I didn't want to go through explaining that _again_ , so when Neah started pestering me about childbirth, I flashed him a dark smirk and showed him a memory of the baby crowning. He immediately paled and gagged. "Ok, that's enough of that."

I stopped when he asked me to; it was never my intention to actually show him the entire birth or to make him throw up. An awkward silence settled around us after that, but Neah was quick to break it and change the subject. "So... does she really have a parasitic Innocence?"

The question made me frown. I reached down and fumbled with the blankets Eri was wrapped in, moving them aside just enough to expose her left shoulder. The mottled red skin there was my daughter's only flaw, and knowing that the birthmark was because of her Innocence only made me more disappointed in it. I couldn't look at it without crying, so I quickly returned my gaze back to Neah and the somber expression on his face. "I can only hope that she never has to use it."

He shook his head at me. "I'm sorry, but I don't think you'll get that wish. The Earl may be dead, but there are still seven Noah and millions of akuma out there. The odds are that she'll have to join the fight before the war is over."

I knew that he was right, but it still hurt to hear. While I bit my lip and tried to fight back the tears that came from thinking of my daughter as an exorcist, Neah reached out to stroke her Innocence. I was going to let him touch her, but before his hand got close, Timcanpy chomped down on his fingers. He howled in pain and tried to shake the golem off, but Tim wouldn't let go. It was a great distraction from my dark thoughts, and I couldn't help laughing as I coaxed Tim into releasing Neah's fingers. "Tim's already named himself Eri's protector. You're going to have to go through him to get to her."

Neah scowled at Tim as he held his bitten fingers, muttering under his breath. "Traitor."


	44. Chapter 44

The next few days were a blur of visitors, medical tests, and trying to figure out how to care for my newborn baby. Everyone had to come to congratulate me on having the baby and for killing the Earl, and while the near constant attention was draining, it wasn't nearly as stressful as taking care of my completely helpless kitten was. Even with Kanda being at my side almost constantly, Erika was a handful. She never slept for more than a couple of hours at a time, and when she was awake, it felt like she always needed something. I was exhausted and it didn't help that I had to do all of it while stuck in the infirmary on bed rest.

The doctors and nurses all refused to let me leave until I recovered from giving birth, and I was going a little stir-crazy being stuck in bed like that. I knew better than to argue with them though, as I was in way more pain than I expected to be and complaining would have only resulted in them taking away my pain medication; just getting up to go to the bathroom was agonizing, and there was no way I was ready to do it without medication.

I was also still bleeding from my birth canal, and while that was normal for a female pregnancy, I was male and wasn't even supposed to have that hole in the first place, so we were all worried about the impact that would have on my overall health. Komui and a couple of the more curious doctors and scientists, namely Bak once he came to visit, frequently interrupted my recovery to take samples and question me, trying to discover how I had the birth canal. My answers to their questions were very unhelpful, as for all I knew, I'd had that hole for weeks before giving birth; it was in an area of my body that I really only paid attention to during sex, and Kanda and I hadn't slept together in over a month. If my water hadn't broken, I probably would have never known it was there.

At three days old, Erika was still blind, stubbornly keeping her eyes screwed firmly shut, but she was no longer deaf. And although that was incredibly relieving and went a long way towards convincing me that she would eventually be alright, having her be able to hear only added to my stress; I now had to worry about loud noises disturbing her and waking her up. Kanda had actually thrown Lavi out and banned him from coming back until he could learn to be quiet.

I had taken to sleeping when Eri slept, as the way she purred in contentment while dozing in her father's arms was incredibly soothing and helped me relax. My friends tried to tease me about it, but Kanda shut them up really quickly. I was grateful for that, even though I knew that he only did it because he didn't want them to scare me out of taking care of myself; it was a rather annoying mannerism he'd picked up over the last couple days. I had known that he would be overprotective of our daughter, but I hadn't predicted that he would extend that overprotectiveness onto me. He had a point that I had to take care of myself if I wanted to take care of Erika, but the way he constantly harped on me about it was beginning to piss me off. And it was in the middle of telling him that that my parents finally arrived to meet the baby.

I had known they were coming today, as it had always been the plan for them to come the day of my surgery, and since they were always so hard to get ahold of and Erika had only been born a few days early, I had elected to just wait for them to come as originally planned. It was just my luck that they arrived while I was in the middle of an argument with my husband.

The moment the door opened, I was braced for awkwardness, but our fight was ignored. Instead, Natasha squealed and made a beeline straight for Erika. Before I could stop her, she had plucked the baby out of her bassinet and held her close. I practically stopped breathing as I waited for Eri to start screaming, only to be blown away when she didn't even get fussy.

Kanda wore a stunned look that I was sure was identical to mine. We could do nothing but watch as my mother babbled baby talk at our daughter, completely baffled as to why Erika wasn't upset. Cross spoke from just inside the door, drawing our attention to him. "What's with that look, brat?"

As I was unable to form words, Kanda had to answer the question for me. "Eri hasn't let anyone but me and the Moyashi hold her."

The comment pulled Natasha's attention away from Erika. "Really?"

I nodded, trying and failing to hide a frown. "Yeah. She starts screaming the moment anyone who isn't one of us picks her up."

Natasha frowned down at the baby in her arms for a moment before she giggled and started tickling her. "You're a weird little baby, aren't you?"

She giggled once more before handing Eri over to Cross. "Let's have you meet your grandfather, ok little one?"

Erika was just as content to be held by Cross as she was by Natasha, but my attention was drawn to the way Cross got misty-eyed as he held her. I knew he was going to be more affectionate with his granddaughter than he ever was with me, but I hadn't expected it to hurt; I didn't know why it suddenly bothered me that Cross didn't show any affection for me.

I was pulled out of my brief depression when Kanda brushed a hand into my hair and started rubbing my ear. I looked up at him and he gave me a small smile. "We're all biologically related to her, Moyashi. Eri must know that somehow. After all, no matter how much you try to deny it, she looks like your mother."

I scowled at him and pulled his hand away from my ear, but before I could tell him to stop saying things like that, Cross was agreeing with him. "She does."

He smiled at Natasha, causing her to blush and try to deny the resemblance, but then Cross suddenly noticed something that made him frown down at Erika and speak over Natasha's embarrassed stammering. "She's awake, right? So why hasn't she opened her eyes?"

I bit my lip. I'd had to explain this so many times in the last few days, but it still hurt every bit as much as it did the first time. "Erika's blind. Because she's part cat, she-"

I cut myself off to hold in a sob. Kanda snorted and tousled my hair. "She grew out of being deaf, Moyashi. She'll grow out of this too. There's absolutely no reason for you to still be crying over this."

Of course, having someone tell me not to cry only made me cry harder. "I know. It's just-"

"It's hard to have there be something wrong with your child that you can't fix. And even though you know it's not your fault, you feel like a horrible mother for it." I had been expecting to be cut off, but I wasn't expecting Natasha to be the one to interrupt me or for her to so eloquently put what I was feeling into words. It was startling that she seemed to understand exactly what I was going through.

When I gaped at her, my mother laughed lightly. She sat down on the bed beside me and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. "I've been where you are, Allen. Your arm caused me a lot of worry and depression when you were a baby. I cried over you for hours after you were born." Her melancholy smile suddenly turned into a fierce scowl. "Then the midwife who helped me deliver you told me that I should put you down, like you were some sort of animal. I was so pissed that I broke her nose."

I was incredibly comforted by her story, it was always nice to hear how much my mother loved me, but that good feeling died a little when Kanda smirked at me. "So you get that from your mother, Moyashi. I wonder if Eri's also going to break the noses of people who piss her off."

His attempt at humor offended me, so I punched his shoulder as I scowled at him. "Shut up. I've only broken Lavi's and yours, and that was back when you were an asshole, so you both deserved it."

He quirked an eyebrow at me. "'Were'? I haven't changed _that_ much Moyashi."

The fact that he seemed so insulted made me laugh. "You've changed a lot in the last couple years, Yuu. And I'm not talking about me and the baby either. Just look at how you are with Camilla. The old you would never have been able to handle an apprentice, much less stayed friends with her afterwards."

Kanda growled and looked away, but I caught the blush on his face. I momentarily wondered why he was so embarrassed, as my words had been meant as a compliment, but then he spoke. "Can we not have this conversation in front of your parents?"

I felt my face heat up and knew I must have been bright red. I wasn't just embarrassed, I was mortified. For both of us. I tried very hard to respect Kanda's feelings and not talk about personal things in front of an audience, and here I went and said _that_ in front of my parents; I was dreading what Cross was going to say to embarrass Kanda. And I knew that he was going to say something; they had a mutual dislike that started back before I ever joined the Order, and their relationship had only gotten rockier in the last year.

But to my surprise, Cross didn't make a jab at my husband. In fact, he didn't seem to have even heard our conversation. When I finally gathered enough courage to look at him, I found him staring down at Erika with an incredibly serious look on his face. I'd seen that expression a few times before, and it wasn't good. "Natasha. You need to see this. But you're not going to like it."

He passed the baby to her, and although I couldn't see what he was showing her, from the way he was frowning and the horror on her face, I could guess. After all, Erika's shoulder looked a lot like my arm used to. I sighed and addressed the elephant in the room. "Eri's got a parasitic Innocence. She's going to be an exorcist someday. At least the Earl's dead. Hopefully that means that this war will be a lot less dangerous by the time she has to go out and fight."

Cross immediately snapped to attention, that serious look never once leaving his face. "The Earl's dead? When did that happen?"

I blinked under the forcefulness of his questioning. "Wednesday afternoon. About an hour before Erika was born."

The genuine surprise on Cross' face was almost as shocking as the fact that he seemed to immediately know that I was the one responsible. "You actually did it? You actually killed that fat bastard?"

I nodded. "I did. He threatened to take my baby from me and I wasn't about to let that happen."

What happened next was something I had only recently realized I wanted. Cross tousled my hair and gave me a hug. He even kissed my forehead as he let go. "I'm proud of you."

The affectionate gesture was followed by an incredibly awkward silence. Neither of us knew what to say to each other after that. Fortunately, the awkwardness didn't last long, as Erika chose that moment to decide that she was hungry. Unfortunately, she just made the conversation awkward in a different way.

Natasha gladly handed my baby back to me when she got fussy. "Looks like little Erika is hungry. Do you need me to go fetch a bottle from the nurse?"

Kanda laughed, and I knew it was because of the embarrassed blush that covered my face. I tried to stammer out an explanation to my mother, but before I got any further than, "No thank you," Kanda had cut me off with a kiss. He used my distraction to pop open the top buttons of my shirt. I shot him a dirty look as I moved my crying baby to my exposed chest. Erika's tears ceased as she latched on and started suckling, but I continued to glare at my husband.

Natasha and Cross shared a surprised look before they both laughed. My glare deepened, but it faded as my mother began to rub my ear. "There's no need to be embarrassed, Allen. Breastfeeding is a wonderful part of having a child, you should be thankful that you get to experience it."

Now I was embarrassed for a different reason. I couldn't think of anything to say in response to that, so I remained silent, until Eri was fed and burped, at which point, I changed the subject to something much safer. I handed the baby to her father and shot him a meaningful look. "She needs a fresh diaper."

He scowled at me, much like I expected him to. Changing Eri wasn't a particularly gross job, she was too young for that, but her tail made it a little difficult to do, so it was far from our favorite task. "Why do _I_ always have to do it? You've never once changed her. You always hand off the dirty tasks to me."

His exaggerated complaining almost made me laugh. Instead, I pointedly raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh? Do you really want me to get up and do it? I'm on bed rest, remember?"

Kanda scoffed, but he did get up to change Eri's diaper. "Che. You only remember to be on bed rest when it comes to chores you don't want to do, Baka Moyashi."

My sarcastic retort was cut off by my mother. "You're on bed rest?"

Her concern only made me more annoyed with the whole thing. "The doctors are overreacting because I gave birth naturally and they weren't prepared for that. There's nothing wrong with me. I should be back doing things, not sitting around here."

Kanda snarled as he settled back in his chair. "You 'should be' asleep."

"Would you drop that already? I'm getting plenty of rest."

When I tried to take the baby from him, he moved her out of my reach. "If that were true, you wouldn't have passed out the last time you went to the bathroom."

I glared at him. "First of all, I didn't actually lose consciousness, and second, that was from blood loss not a lack of sleep. Stop trying to use that against me."

Cross snickered. "So you're having nightmares again. You always become an insomniac when you let the bad dreams get the best of you."

The way he immediately picked up on the truth was terrifying; as much as I hated to admit it, it was moments like this when Cross actually felt like my father.

Kanda moved Eri into my arms and brushed his hand into my hair in a gesture that was meant to be comforting. "Nightmares, Moyashi? What about?"

I shook my head, doing my very best to keep the subject away from my childhood terrors. "Just what the Earl said before I killed him. They're not that bad, but they freak me out enough that I feel like I have to wake up and make sure that Erika is still here."

The way Yuu stared at me spoke volumes; he was clearly beating himself up for not noticing my nightmares. But before I could say anything to him, Natasha was interjecting. "Would you two mind stepping outside so that I can speak with Allen alone?"

I expected arguing, but both Kanda and Cross left the room without complaint. Once the door closed behind them, Natasha sat down on the bed beside me and wrapped her arms around me. She rested her chin on my shoulder and we sat together in silence for a few minutes before I couldn't take it anymore. I needed to know why she'd wanted privacy. "Mum?"

She sighed and spoke without looking at me. "I've lost a child, Allen. And I've found him again. The nightmares never go away completely. I've had you back for over a year and I still relive that moment I realized you were gone at least once a month. Losing a child is a terrifying thing. It's completely natural for you to feel the way you're feeling. That being said, you never actually lost your baby, so you need to buck up and get over it already. Got it?"

She finally looked at me, and the jokingly fierce glare she was giving me made me laugh. "Thanks, Mum."


	45. Chapter 45

A/N: Well, what was supposed to be chapter 44 turned out to be chapters 44 and 45, so I really have no clue how far away from the end we are. It might be one more chapter or it might be more. I'm thinking two and a little epilogue-esque thing, but who knows how long the chapters will actually turn out. Anyway, here's some more baby stuff!

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

Erika's nursery was quite crowded. Allen had been released from the infirmary that morning, and everyone had gathered to help the new parents get their baby settled into her new room. Not that anyone other than Allen was actually doing anything. The neko was antsy and fidgety after being on bed rest for so long, and he was channeling that excess energy into arranging and rearranging Erika's things. Everyone else was standing around chatting and fawning over the baby, who was sleeping peacefully in her grandmother's arms.

Natasha loved the attention that Erika was getting. The baby's cat features bothered her just as much as Allen's did, but she was finally beginning to understand what her son had been saying since she found him; if it weren't for that curse, she wouldn't have a family. And it wasn't just Cross and Allen either. The people here loved her better than her own parents had simply because she was Allen's mother, and they'd only gotten friendlier as she got to know them. And they all loved and doted on the newest member of her family.

Which was why Camilla's behavior really bothered her.

The Italian woman was supposed to be one of Allen's best friends, but she was always aloof and melancholy when he was around. She had been especially standoffish lately, making no effort to get close to the baby. Natasha had initially brushed that off as nerves, figuring that she was just one of those women who didn't like babies, but Erika was now a week old and Camilla was still hovering awkwardly in the doorway rather than celebrating with everyone. And that was no longer tolerable. But because Camilla was one of Allen's friends, she had to be tactful about it. "Do you want to come closer and see the baby better?"

Camilla shook her head, forcing a polite smile. She wanted nothing more than to hold the baby, but that was never going to happen, and it was hard to hide her disappointment. "Thanks, but I'm fine where I am."

Natasha immediately recognized the lie, and she could not stand the idea that someone didn't like her granddaughter. "Come on, she's beautiful. How can you not want to take a closer look?"

The comment made Allen laugh from where he was folding some of Erika's new clothes. "Mum, leave her alone. Camilla's allergic to cats. She _can't_ come any closer than that."

Natasha briefly felt stupid for having missed something so simple, especially since this was far from her first time meeting Camilla, but that was brushed aside. This was a problem she could solve. "Oh. Well that's easy enough to fix."

Before Camilla could react, the tip of Natasha's pointer finger was resting on the bridge of her nose, right between her eyes. She opened her mouth to protest, but the words died in her throat when the woman began whispering the words to a spell, causing a strange tingling to radiate through her body. It was over just a couple seconds later, but the tingling feeling lingered a bit longer. Camilla gave Natasha a panicked look, terrified by the fact that she had no clue what the witch had just done to her, but before she could form the words to ask, Natasha was placing the baby in her arms. It only made Camilla grow more flustered, as she was expecting to become congested and start sneezing, but didn't.

Natasha smiled at the look on Camilla's face; she got quite a kick out of the reactions she got for casting harmless spells without explaining them first. "Curing allergies can be difficult work, but yours was pretty easy to fix. You'll still want to stay away from cats, but Allen and little Erika won't be causing you any more problems."

As soon as she processed what she'd just been told, Camilla began crying. She passed the baby back to Natasha, and then she threw herself at Allen. The force of her unexpected hug nearly knocked Allen over; it was no secret that she was a hugger, but her allergy meant that he was never on the receiving end of it before, so the whole thing caught him off guard. Camilla held him as close as she dared to with his overprotective husband in the room; now that she was no longer allergic to the neko, she had a year's worth of hugs to get out of her system. "Thank you. For everything. You've done so much for me, and I don't know how I can ever repay you for it."

Allen blushed at her words, but before he could respond, Kanda spoke up. Expecting him to be upset with Camilla for the length of her hug, the question he posed to her instead caught everyone's attention. "She let you hold her?"

Everyone shared a few confused looks, but as Allen extricated himself from Camilla's hug, it clicked. He could only blink in shock at his husband as he tried to wrap his head around it. "She did. Eri let Camilla hold her."

The weight of this revelation hit everyone hard. Erika had actually let someone who wasn't biologically related to her hold her. Camilla blushed in embarrassment at their confused and jealous looks, and she tried to brush off their unwanted attention. "I really didn't have her for that long. I'm sure she just didn't have the time to notice."

"There's one way to find out." Taking charge of the situation, Natasha handed the baby back to Camilla. Everyone braced for Erika to start crying, but the baby stayed blissfully asleep.

Camilla gaped at Erika, confused as to why the very picky baby would choose her to be the first to hold her, but then her joy over having her allergy cured returned, and she held the baby close, fawning over the neko in her arms. "You were right, she's very precious. But after listening to her scream at all of you, it's weird that she's letting me hold her."

As she stroked the baby's shoulder, running her fingers against the small section of exposed rough red skin, a thought occurred to Camilla. "She let Timothy hold her, right?"

Allen shrugged off the comment, not getting what she was driving at. "Timothy's just a kid."

While the twelve year old Timothy pouted over being called a child, Camilla snorted and raised an eyebrow at Allen. "Timothy's got a parasitic Innocence. Just like me, just like Erika, and just like the man she spent the last nine months living inside. Maybe she can sense that."

Picking up on how uncomfortable the suggestion made Allen, Lenalee tried to come up with a reason for why Erika's behavior was different that didn't involve her Innocence. "Or maybe she's just finally grown out of that phase. It could be that she-"

The rest of the sentence was drowned out by Erika screaming the moment she was lifted out of Camilla's arms. Lenalee blushed and immediately gave the baby back. "Or not."

Allen shot Lenalee a grateful smile as he rushed to comfort his crying baby; he had picked up on what she was trying to do and appreciated the gesture, even if it had failed. Camilla willingly handed Eri over to her mother, not wanting to be in his way while he calmed her down - especially since it was her spontaneous theory that had led to the baby being upset in the first place.

In the awkward silence that followed, Marie spoke up from where he was sitting on the window seat with Miranda. "Is it ok if I try something with her, Allen?"

The question made Allen even more tense than he already was. "What do you have in mind?"

Marie easily picked up on how hard Allen was working to keep his voice level. He knew that if he were anyone else, Allen would have hit him rather than ask for an explanation, so he explained what he was thinking as quickly as he could to put the neko at ease. "Will you let me hold her? I wear my Innocence on my hands. If she really is reacting to the Innocence, she might just let me hold her."

The suggestion made Allen frown. He didn't want to make his daughter cry, but he knew that Marie made sense. This would be the quickest way to find out, and it wouldn't involve an exam like taking the baby to Hevlaska would.

Seeing that the Moyashi was frozen with indecision, Kanda stepped in. The thought of his daughter already being in touch with her Innocence was alarming, and he desperately needed to find out if that truly was the case. He trusted Marie and knew from previous fights that the Moyashi wouldn't be mad at him for making decisions that concerned their child.

Allen let Kanda take Erika from him, a brief moment of eye contact between them telling his husband that he actually was okay with this, and he watched with bated breath as the samurai placed their daughter into Marie's waiting arms. He was both relieved and concerned when Eri started to get fussy the moment her father was no longer touching her. Her cries hurt his heart, but he was thankful that they were wrong about who she would let hold her. He didn't want the Innocence to dictate her life like it had his.

But then Marie activated his Innocence.

As soon as he finished whispering the word "Activate," Erika stopped crying. Allen was so stunned that he couldn't make himself react; the implications of what he'd just seen were terrifying. In the eerie silence that followed, everyone who wasn't related to the baby fled the room; no one wanted to be around to witness Allen's upcoming meltdown.

Marie immediately deactivated his Innocence and let Kanda overprotectively snatch Erika from his arms. "I'm sorry, Allen. I sincerely hoped that I was wrong."

Allen didn't acknowledge that he'd heard the blind man. He just continued to stare at nothing, and he didn't even flinch when Marie gave his shoulder an apologetic pat on his way out.

Not liking that completely blank look on his husband's face, Kanda placed the baby in her mother's arms and glared death at those few left in the nursery until they got the hint and went away. He guided Allen out to the couch, and wrapped his arms around both the Moyashi and the baby as they sat down together. "We're alone. You can cry now."

Allen finally spoke, his voice barely a whisper but still full of stubbornness. "I don't want to cry."

"Yes, you do, Moyashi. And we both know that crying will make you feel better, so let it out." The irony of him actually telling Allen to cry was not lost on Kanda. It wasn't all that long ago that Allen's crybaby side was one of the things he hated most about the boy. But there was something almost magical about being the one the Moyashi turned to for comfort, especially when it was their baby that was causing his distress.

When Allen's tears finally began to fall, Kanda pulled him closer and began to say anything he could think of that might possibly put the neko at ease; it was a difficult undertaking when he still struggled with expressing his emotions. "I don't like it either, Moyashi, but we've known for a while now that Erika was going to be an accommodator. And given that she's _your_ daughter, it shouldn't be at all surprising that she's already started to bond with her Innocence. It makes perfect sense that the child of the Heart's accommodator would bond with her own Innocence so soon."

Kanda's attempt to comfort him actually did make Allen feel a whole lot better. He sniffled and wiped at his still falling tears. "Right. And it's not like she's actually using hers, she's just sensing everyone else's."

"Exactly. This just means that she already knows to trust her fellow exorcists, and let's face it, you and I were going to be horrible at teaching her that."

The comment made Allen giggle. "Thanks, Yuu."

"Che." Kanda rolled his eyes and flicked Allen's ear. "I love you, Moyashi."

.x.x.

Being back in my own room was a huge relief. I'd actually been able to relax a little the last few days. Taking care of my baby was a whole lot easier in the familiar and comfortable space.

The head nurse had insisted that we get Erika used to sleeping in her own room immediately, but I just couldn't handle that; I needed to be as close to my baby as I possibly could. So we had reached a compromise. So long as Eri didn't actually sleep in our bed with us, we could keep her in our bedroom at night. We situated Erika's bassinet under the window by my side of the bed, and it was a spot Timcanpy approved of, as he could see the entire room from his protective perch. He glared at anyone who so much as walked by her bassinet while she was sleeping, myself and Kanda included, though for us it was usually just his way of saying that he thought we weren't paying enough attention to her. I ignored him that night though, as it was still the middle of the night and I really had to pee - that particular task was a whole lot easier now that the extra hole between my legs had closed and I wasn't having to clean up my own blood every time I used the toilet.

I hadn't bothered turning on the light in the bathroom - I'd broken that unnecessary habit within weeks of becoming a neko - but I could still see my reflection in the mirror as clear as day. I was already nearly back to my normal weight, as my parasitic Innocence had drained most of the baby weight right off me within the first few days after giving birth. I was still a little pudgy in some areas, but because the last of the weight wouldn't completely vanish until I was finished breastfeeding, and I was nowhere near ready to give that up, I actually felt pretty good about my body.

I stopped at Erika's bassinet on the way back to bed; she wasn't fussy, but I still wanted to check on her. What I saw when I laid eyes on my ten day old baby startled me so badly that I almost shrieked. I wanted to rush over to the bed and forcibly yank my sleeping husband out of it so that he could join me, but I couldn't make myself move. I couldn't tear my eyes off the little neko, who was staring up at me with bright silver eyes that glowed in the moonlight. My baby girl had finally opened her eyes. "Yuu! Wake up! You have to come see this!"

I heard him groan and roll over, swearing under his breath. "It's still dark out, Moyashi. I'll see it in the morning. Go back to sleep."

I hissed at him with a tone I knew would make him listen to me. "Just get your ass over here, Bakanda!"

He swore some more, but I heard him get up and walk towards me. "What is it, Moyashi? What's got you so-?"

Kanda's grumbling cut off with a gasp and he wrapped his arms around my waist. "She's gorgeous."

"She is." My tears finally fell as I reached down and picked up my baby; I was overjoyed that she could finally see and I just couldn't keep it in any longer.

Erika's nose twitched as I pulled her against my chest, which was a surefire sign that she was hungry, so I moved over to the bed to nurse her. Her silver eyes never left my face as I fed her, and my eyes never left hers. I was a little disappointed that she had inherited my eye color rather than Kanda's, as she already took so strongly after me, but now that her eyes were open, I could see the Asian in her facial features, so I wasn't complaining.

Eri fell asleep almost immediately after I finished burping her, and my tears fell once more as she snuggled deeper into my arms. Kanda snorted and tousled my hair, calling my attention to the fact that he loved to watch me nurse Erika and therefore hadn't gone back to bed like I'd thought. "See? I told you she'd be fine."

I tried to wipe away my tears as I smiled up at him. "And I never doubted you. It's just so nice to have it be true, you know?"

Kanda laughed and took the baby from me, placing her back in her bassinet before climbing in bed beside me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close to him. I responded by burying my face in his chest and snuggling into his embrace, something that I hadn't been able to do in months without my pregnant belly getting in the way. It felt so good to be held by my husband, and I was so relieved that my precious baby was finally able to see, that I soon fell asleep.

For the moment, life was perfect.

Tomorrow, Kanda would resume his general's duties and start going on missions once more, leaving me behind to worry about him and care for our baby alone, but for right now, I could just enjoy sleeping in his arms.


	46. Chapter 46

A/N: I'm not particularly happy with how this chapter turned out, but it's at least done. As always, thanks for your reviews. I'm sorry this was late. Anyway, there's one small story arc left before this story is over. I've written all of fifty words of it so far, so I have no clue how long it's going to end up, or even if I'll have a chapter to post in two weeks - it might take three or four like this one did. :/

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

I had thought that going on missions and leaving my pregnant fiancé behind was hard, but that was nothing compared to going on missions when it was my husband and newborn daughter I was leaving behind. Saying goodbye to my Moyashi every morning was as difficult as it always was, even with knowing that I'd be back by dinner, but actually having our baby made it even harder - and I'm not talking about the sleep deprivation that came from having an infant who couldn't sleep through the night yet. Erika seemed to be aware that I was leaving; she would start screaming the moment I left the room, which made me want to turn back and comfort her even though I knew I shouldn't, and I knew from Allen that it would take him a good hour to get her to calm down after I left. I ended up changing my schedule so that I was leaving before either of them were awake. As painful as leaving without saying goodbye was, it was far better than being the reason my baby was crying. Of course, once I did manage to leave headquarters, I'd miss my family so much that I could barely focus on my duties. I was rather disgusted with how soft I had become, but I figured that so long as it was only my family that I was being soft towards, I was fine.

It got a little easier to go on missions as time passed and I wasn't quite so new at being a father, but that was about when we started noticing the effects that the Earl's death had on the war, and it was even harder to be away from my family after that.

It wasn't unusual for me to get attacked by several dozen akuma while I was out on one of my missions, and since finding a new accommodator was like finding a needle in a haystack, taking out the enemy's forces was how I gauged a day's mission to be successful. Because of how distracted I'd been lately, it took me a while to notice that I hadn't seen _any_ akuma in almost a week. And that was beyond weird.

I immediately brought the lack of akuma to Komui's attention, but he accused me of making things up in order to get out of my general's duties and stay home with my baby. That accusation hurt more than a little, and not just because I wouldn't lie about something like that, but I just scoffed and rolled my eyes at him. I did get an apology a couple days later, after Komui did some investigating and realized that I was right. I wasn't the only one seeing less akuma than usual; the number of akuma sightings had dropped all over the world.

At first, we thought that the enemy was simply taking some time to regroup after the loss of their leader, but it became pretty clear that that wasn't the case. Without the Earl, the enemy couldn't create any more akuma, which meant that there were now a finite number of them, which in turn meant that they had to change how they fought. Instead of outright attacking any exorcist they saw, they were being much more deliberate about it, staying hidden and blending in with the crowds. It was incredibly frustrating to fight them that way when we were used to making ourselves targets for them to attack, but on the other hand, that meant our odds of survival had gone up drastically, which in turn meant that it was much less likely that I would get injured and next to impossible that I wouldn't make it home at all. I was sure that it was only temporary, that things would change once what was left of the Noah got their acts together, but for right now, I could only be thankful for the temporary peace, even if it meant feeling like I wasn't accomplishing anything on my missions. I wasn't going to lose my family anytime soon.

.x.x.

Adjusting to life with a child was simultaneously incredibly hard and the simplest thing I'd ever done. I was alone with Erika for most of the day, as her father and my friends all had duties to attend to, and being on my own with her made me feel like I was in over my head. I really had no clue what I was doing. And it definitely didn't make it easier that Eri was already proving herself to be more stubborn than Yuu and I combined. But the fact that I loved my daughter more than words could express made it feel completely natural to just give in and let my life revolve around her, so the whole thing was really only stressful if I allowed myself to think about it.

Of course, Eri slept more than half the day, and I could only watch her sleep for so long before I got antsy, which made me stress about how I was raising her, which in turn made me freak out about being a mother. So it felt like all I was doing was thinking about it.

I knew I had a great bond with my child, all anyone had to do was make her cry to prove that, but when I watched her with her father, that bond felt insignificant in comparison to theirs. He may have barely been around because of his missions, but Yuu was wonderful with Eri. It was beautiful to watch him train with her in his arms or strapped to his chest. He was teaching himself how to fight while protecting her, and while I loved that he loved her enough to be thinking like that, it made me feel clueless and insignificant; it had never once occurred to me to do that with her.

So I went back to reading in my spare time. Only this time I was reading books on parenting and child development. The new knowledge helped ease my anxiety, but it was only a couple weeks before it all completely backfired. Because if I hadn't been reading those books, I wouldn't have started to compare Erika to the babies described in them, and I wouldn't have noticed just how different she was from a normal baby. And that was a comparison that I couldn't unsee no matter how hard I tried.

While Erika was of average height and weight for a two month old baby, that was where the similarities ended. According to the books, a child her age should have been barely able to hold her head up, but Erika was not only holding her head up, she was already sitting up. It had been a joyful day when I had set her down on the couch and she had stayed sitting up, but that was before I knew that a baby that young wasn't supposed to be able to do that. And while she had always been weirdly aware of her surroundings, I had thought that Erika being blind and deaf for so long after her birth would have detrimentally affected her development, so it was more than a little jarring to learn that babies normally don't recognize their own name until they were much older than she was.

It freaked me out enough that I actually took Erika down to Komui to find out what was wrong with her.

The supervisor did a brief exam when I asked - Eri still would not let him hold her - and he immediately pronounced her perfectly healthy. That confused me greatly, as I knew for a fact that she was _not_ fine, but it still took all of my courage to tell him that. "Can you do a more thorough exam than that? I think there might be something wrong with her. I've been reading books about it, and Eri's not developing like a normal baby. She-"

I was cut off by Komui laughing so hysterically that he almost fell out of his chair. And while I was confused as to why he thought what I'd said was funny, especially since he hadn't let me finish explaining it, I was mostly pissed that he wasn't taking me seriously. I let out an angry hiss, but before I could yell and swear at him, his laughter died and he gave me an apologetic smile. "Allen. Relax. I promise: there is absolutely nothing wrong with your baby."

The words did little to make me feel better and I continued to glare at him. Komui's smile faltered briefly before he continued explaining. "Those books you've been reading are about _human_ babies. Erika is only 'not normal' by human standards. But Erika isn't human, so that's nothing to be concerned about. Actually, I'd be concerned if she _was_ 'normal'. Your little neko is going to develop differently from a human baby, and that's exactly how it should be."

I frowned down at my baby, trying to wrap my head around what Komui had just pointed out to me, but when he continued to explain, my confusion turned into embarrassment over missing the obvious. "The truth is that we have no clue how Erika is going to develop. She's the first neko ever born. We know from you what an adult neko is like, so we have some idea of what she's going to grow into, but we have no clue _when_ she's going to hit those milestones. And given that we know that nekos are more complex than humans, it makes sense that Erika is developing faster than a human baby - she has more to learn."

I was too embarrassed to say anything in response. Komui cleared his throat to break the awkward silence that had surrounded us. "I wasn't planning on telling you this unless you got pregnant again, but based on the tests we did on you and Erika right after she was born, she was actually almost a month overdue."

I blinked at him in confusion, wondering where he was going with this. "So you were wrong about when I got pregnant?"

Komui shook his head at me. "No. You carried her for a month longer than you needed to." Seeing that I still didn't understand, he rephrased his explanation. "If you get pregnant again, you'll only have to carry the baby for eight months rather than nine."

This time I got what he was trying to say. "Because I'm a neko and nekos are different from humans."

"Exactly." He nodded and then abruptly changed the subject. "Anyway, since you're here, I may as well give this to you now."

He pulled a file from a pile on his desk, and I knew what was inside it the second I saw the seal on the front. I didn't take it from him when he offered it to me; instead, I held my baby closer. "Central wants me back on active duty."

"Yes." Komui sighed and set the file back on his desk. "With the way the enemy is fighting currently, your ability to detect the akuma is our most valuable tool, and they don't want you sitting on the sidelines anymore."

I cursed a few times. I was not ready, mentally or physically, to go on missions again, and I absolutely did not want to have to leave my baby. "I've already killed the Earl. Why can't that be good enough for them?"

Komui smiled, but otherwise ignored my outburst. "I know you had a baby not that long ago and your body isn't ready for missions yet, but there's no fighting them on this. So I have arranged for you to accompany Kanda on his missions for a few weeks, like you did back when you first became a neko. It shouldn't be that much more stressful on your body than your current training."

While I liked the thought of going on missions with my husband, there was a huge flaw in Komui's reasoning, and I immediately shot down his plan. "No. If Kanda and I are on missions together, that means we have to find someone to babysit Erika, which is going to be impossible given how picky she is. So unless you're willing to let us take Erika with us, we can't both be gone from headquarters at the same time."

Komui turned deadly serious when I tried to argue with him. "You don't have a choice, Allen. Central has already approved this. Starting Monday, you are to accompany General Kanda on his missions. End of discussion."

His tone may have indicated that I was dismissed, but I was not done trying to fight him on this. "But Eri's not weaned yet! How am I supposed to be away from her if I still have to breastfeed her?"

Komui spoke without looking up from his paperwork, and I couldn't tell if he was angry or trying not to laugh at me. "Then you better start working on that."

I couldn't resist slamming the door on my way out.

.x.x.

When Kanda came home that night and found Allen in the foulest mood he'd been in in months, he had to fight the urge to avoid him for the rest of the evening. And then, once he found out what was bothering the Moyashi, he had to fight the urge to laugh at how ridiculous the brat was being. But once he knew what was wrong, it was easy to make Allen see reason. Kanda wasn't anywhere near as good with guilt trips as Lenalee was, but he was still able to make Allen feel bad for not wanting to go on missions with him. And once Allen was feeling guilty instead of pissed, it was easy to make him realize that he was being stupid. It wasn't reasonable to expect one of them to always be with their child, and the sooner they got her used to being alone during the day, the easier it would be in an emergency.

With Allen convinced to at least try to be away from Erika, Monday's mission went off without a hitch. The two had a great, albeit unsuccessful, day of wandering around looking for Innocence, and Allen had actually enjoyed being back in action.

But while they had a good time, headquarters was in turmoil for the eight hours they were gone.

Erika may have only been two months old, but she was very aware of the fact that her parents weren't the ones taking care of her, and every little thing upset her. She cried constantly, and nothing anyone did could get her to stop. She was making everyone around her miserable, and disrupting everything that was happening inside the building. It was only Natasha, who had just happened to stop by while on an errand for Cross, who managed to get Erika calm enough to stop screaming. But even her grandmother couldn't get the little neko to go to sleep, and trying to change her diaper or get her to take a bottle only made her start crying again. And it definitely didn't help that Erika was perfectly content once she was back in her mother's arms after his mission.

Allen had a hard time believing that his precious baby had been such a nuisance while they were gone, and insisted that they were making things up to make him feel bad for enjoying his first day outside of headquarters in almost a year. He was so hard to convince that Komui ended up changing tactics and begging Natasha to stick around for a few days until they got Erika used to being away from her parents; she was the only hope they had of normalcy while Allen was gone.

But after two more days of nothing but screaming from the baby, Komui had had enough. His hands were tied and he couldn't pull Allen from his mission, so he caved to Allen's initial demands and let the parents take their baby with them. It wasn't safe for her out there, especially with her young age and parasitic Innocence, but no one at headquarters had gotten any work done in the last three days because of what the finders had dubbed "the demon mini-Kanda", so it was time to try something different. There was also Erika's health to be concerned about, as she refused to eat when Allen was gone and it wasn't good for a child her age to go more than a couple hours between feedings. They could try the babysitting thing again once Erika had outgrown that phase and would let someone other than her mother feed her.


	47. Epilogue

A/N: I have decided to ditch chapter 47. I was really struggling to write that story arc, and the more I tried to write it, the less I liked the plot line. I'll save it to potentially revisit as a flashback in part three, but for now, it goes in the "trash" folder. So here's the epilogue to "A Second Neko".

From the start of "Of Cats and Witches" to the end of this epilogue, this story is 204K words long, not counting author's notes, and has been running for three years. Thanks for sticking around, and I hope you come back for part three of this story, which I plan to start posting sometime in March/April.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

~Epilogue: Three Years Later~

I loved my daughter more with every day that passed. She may have been adorable as a baby, but Erika became even more precious as she learned to walk and talk. She remained shy, only really opening up around the other exorcists, but she had definitely inherited Allen's friendliness, and much like her mother, once she learned how to smile, she never stopped.

Eri also loved to eat just as much as the Moyashi did, which made mealtime quite interesting, as it turned out that she was even pickier with her food than I was. There were a lot of things Erika liked simply because I liked them too - the fact that she liked having long hair definitely proved that - which made it hard to tell if she genuinely didn't like something or if she was only claiming that she didn't like it because I didn't like it and she wanted to be like me. It was a bit annoying having a shadow, but that only lasted until she figured out that she couldn't be both me and her mother at the same time and gave up on trying to mimic us.

Even though she had grown out of her anti-babysitter phase, we continued to take Erika on missions with us. It was difficult to wrangle the inquisitive little kitten while trying to focus on our jobs, but Allen and I both loved to be with Erika and we hated leaving her behind when we knew that she was perfectly safe with us. She only stayed at headquarters if both of us were going to be gone for more than a couple days. It was hard to leave her behind when that happened, but I actually trusted Natasha when it came to looking after Erika in our absence, so it wasn't as difficult as it could have been. And now that Natasha and Cross were married, it was even easier to summon her to headquarters whenever we needed her to babysit.

Overall, life was very peaceful. The akuma had gone back to fighting like they used to, outright attacking exorcists when they saw us, but they no longer attacked in droves. We never saw more than four level ones at a time, and higher level akuma frequently attacked solo. The peace that had followed the Earl's death was gone, but we were still in very little danger.

We had had three years without anything dramatic happening. There were no invasions, no kidnappings, no Noah attacks. We hadn't lost any Innocence or had any near death experiences.

So to this day, none of us have any idea as to why Komui suddenly felt the need to build a robot that would help the war effort.

The robot rather predictably went on a rampage instead of doing what it was supposed to do, and Erika and I returned home from my mission that day to find headquarters in complete disarray. Since it wasn't hard to figure out what had happened, I immediately sought out the robot to kill it and then beat some sense into the idiot supervisor. I didn't use to concern myself with things like that, but I had a family to think about now, and I absolutely could not stand Komui doing such moronic things inside our home.

I found the robot in the cafeteria, right as it grabbed the Moyashi. _Figures_. With his bad luck and my poor timing, I always arrived just seconds too late to save him from things like that. But the Moyashi was far from helpless and didn't need me to save him. He was definitely equipped to handle this by himself, and I would only be offending him by rushing to his defense.

Allen activated his Innocence and took a swipe at the robot, only to be thrown into a wall. The rather loud smack was followed by a piercing scream, and it took me a second to realize that Erika had followed me rather than waiting in the entrance hall like I'd told her to. She was the one screaming, obviously freaking out over seeing Allen get hurt. I expected her to start crying - she may have been emotionally mature for her age, but she was still only three years old - so it was a bit of a shock when she suddenly growled and rushed at the robot. But then again, she was _my_ daughter, so it made perfect sense that she'd react like that.

I drew Mugen and followed after her, intending to protect her, but that robot didn't stand a chance against the furious neko. Erika had slashed it to pieces with her bare hands before it even realized that it was being attacked.

With the robot defeated, Erika ran to her mother to check on him, but I stood frozen in place. I was proud of Erika for what she'd done, but I could not for the life of me figure out _how_ she'd done it. There was no way she should have been able to dismantle a crazed robot that was more than four times her size with just her bare hands. It defied all logic.

Allen was fine and got to his feet as soon as Eri reached him. She was sobbing by that point though, and he pulled her into his arms to try to comfort her. He surveyed the wreckage for a moment before turning a bright smile on me. "Thanks, Yuu."

I could only blink at him, still trying to process what I'd witnessed. "I didn't do it. Erika did."

Allen turned a confused smile on the little neko, who had calmed down and was now beaming proudly up at him, but his confused look quickly turned to one of horror as he grabbed her left hand and held it up in front of him. The sharp, black claws protruding from her fingertips immediately caught my attention as they glinted in the light. Erika had activated her Innocence. That certainly explained how she'd taken out the rogue robot.

Eri saw the claws too, and she started panicking. She thrashed in Allen's hold, sobbing hysterically. I took her from him before he accidentally dropped her, and she wrapped her arms around me and buried her face in my chest. In case it wasn't clear that she was terrified by the sudden appearance of claws on her fingers, she dug them painfully into my shoulders; it was only the thickness of my exorcist jacket that kept her from seriously wounding me. While I worked to hide how much she was hurting me, Allen pet her hair and whispered soothing nonsense in her ear. "Eri. Sweetheart. Ssshhh. Just breathe. They'll go away once you calm down. Ok?"

Erika shook her head and cried more, making Allen frown. "Look at me, Eri."

She hesitantly turned to look at the Moyashi, and her tears came to an abrupt halt when he unsheathed his own claws. "You don't have to be scared. See? I have them too."

Eri hesitantly released one of my shoulders and pressed her palm against Allen's, lining up their fingers so that she could see for herself that her claws were the same as his. She gasped when he suddenly retracted his claws, and again when he unsheathed them. By the fourth time he had repeated the action, she was smiling instead of terrified, and she finally listened to him when he told her to take a deep breath and calm down. The tension left her body as she relaxed and her claws finally disappeared. I breathed a sigh of relief, both because she had been able to put her claws away and because she was no longer stabbing me in the back.

I handed Erika to her mother so that he could explain things to her now that she was calm, but instead, she fell asleep the moment she was in his arms. Allen smiled briefly at how peaceful she looked, but it quickly fell to a fierce scowl. He kicked at the dead robot in his frustration. "Dammit. She's only three! She shouldn't be able to use her Innocence yet!"

I scoffed at his outburst as I turned and made my way towards the door. Allen's footsteps were sharp on the stone floor as he hurried to catch up with me. "Where are you going?"

I rolled my eyes at the accusation in his voice. "The infirmary. The Sprout got me pretty good with her claws. If it's as bad as I think it is, I need to have it looked at."

When I had first started losing my healing powers, it had been hard to go to the infirmary like a normal person whenever I got injured, but that wasn't an issue now that I had a child. I shot the Moyashi a fierce glare when he tried to act concerned. "You better not tell her that she hurt me."

Allen snickered as he fell in step beside me. "Of course not. She is _my_ baby, after all. I'm not going to tell her something that's only going to make her cry."

We were halfway to the infirmary when we were suddenly joined by Lavi. He whistled lowly as he joined us. "You got home just in time, Yuu-Chan. That robot was doing some serious damage around here."

I turned to snarl at him for using my first name right as he clasped a hand to my shoulder. Right where Erika had skewered me with her claws. I tried not to react to the sudden surge of pain, but I couldn't stop myself from flinching, which did not go unnoticed by Lavi. "What's wro- Oh my god! You're bleeding!"

When he pulled his hand off my shoulder, it was smeared with blood. My injuries really were as bad as I thought they were. But I shoved that thought aside and rolled my eyes at the rabbit as I shoved him out of my personal space. "No shit, idiot. That's why I'm headed to the infirmary."

Lavi didn't take the hint - he never did - and continued to walk alongside me. "You're really slipping if you let that robot hurt you."

I took a swing at him, but he dodged it easily, like he was doing all too often lately; I really needed a new tactic for getting even with him. "The robot didn't touch me. Erika had a panic attack and stabbed me with her claws."

I didn't catch what the idiot rabbit said next, as it was mumbled and under his breath, but given that there was a flash of white right before he suddenly face planted, the Moyashi _had_ heard him and his comment wasn't nice. We shared a smirk, but then Crowned Clown was deactivated and Allen was the picture of innocence. "You sure are klutzy today, Bookman. Maybe it'd be better for your health if you just stayed in the library with your apprentice."

The evil in Allen's voice was clearly not missed by Lavi, as the redhead immediately paled and fled. It was no secret that the Moyashi only called Lavi by his official title when he'd been pushed too far. I had debated using a similar tactic for getting the rabbit off my back, but I couldn't call him 'Bookman' without laughing, and that severely ruined the effect.

After only a few seconds, Allen and I were alone once more, and we resumed our trek to the infirmary. I loved the Moyashi's black side, especially when it was aimed at someone other than me, but I still had to give him crap about it. "We should have them check you for a concussion, Moyashi. You might have brain damage from the way you hit that wall."

Allen stuck his tongue out at me but didn't actually retort, as Eri chose that moment to stir. She blinked up at us with big silver eyes that gave away just how worn out she still was from her fit earlier. "Mommy?"

Allen smiled at her and began scratching her ear. "It's ok, Erika. I'm right here. Just go back to sleep. I'll wake you when it's time for dinner."

She made a disappointed face at him, but she still buried her face in his jacket and went back to sleep.

We arrived at the infirmary at the same time as Lenalee and the group of scientists who were carrying a hog-tied and unconscious Komui. Lenalee looked like she couldn't decide if she was pissed or distressed, and it didn't take a genius to figure out that she was the reason for Komui's condition. I didn't see where they went from there, as I was immediately grabbed by an overly observant nurse and hauled into the nearest room.

The nurse launched into a lecture about how I needed to cooperate with her, which I didn't even sort of listen to. I just let her ramble on while I slipped off my jacket and shirt, waiting impatiently for her to finish talking and bandage my wounds; I did not want to spend a single second longer in the infirmary than I needed to. Like I had suspected, my jacket had taken the brunt of the damage and would need to be replaced, but my wounds were still pretty deep - deep enough that I was actually ordered off missions for a few days.

Allen had spent the whole exam laughing at me, so while I had originally meant it as a joke, I did make the nurse check him for a concussion. The Moyashi argued and tried to fight with us on it, but he lost that argument really quick when he threw up. Turns out that he did have a concussion and had only been pretending to be fine. If I hadn't gotten so annoyed with him, we might never have known that he was so dizzy he could barely walk. Seriously, why was he still hiding things from me after all our time together?

What made it amusing rather than frustrating was that Erika was awake by this point, and she was very angry at her mother for not telling her that he was hurt. Watching Allen get lectured by a three year old was hilarious.

It was just a little while later that Lenalee finally decided that she was upset with her brother and came to check on us. She went back and forth for several minutes between ranting about how stupid Komui was and worrying over our injuries, just like she always did after one of his inventions caused chaos. It was annoying, but like with the nurse, it was easier to just let her talk.

Lenalee finally shut up when a nurse came in with the news that Komui was awake. And that was when she switched back to worrying that she had seriously hurt him in her attempt to make him see reason. But she was still polite and made sure to say goodbye before she ran off. "I'm going to go check on Komui. Is there anything you want me to tell him?"

I snorted at that thought. "You should tell him to go into hiding. The Moyashi's hurt and Eri activated her Innocence for the first time because of what he did. All three of us want to kill him."

.x.x.

It took almost a week for Yuu to stop tormenting me over not telling him that I'd been hurt. But that wasn't anything new. Even if I had told him that I'd been hurt, he still would have tormented me about being weak. It was a lose-lose situation, but he liked tormenting me like that, and I knew he didn't really mean anything by the insults, so I didn't let it bother me.

After what happened with the robot, we decided that we needed to start teaching Erika how to control her claws. It was troublesome work, as it turned out that she could only activate them when she was incredibly angry, and it took a lot of effort to get her that pissed. And purposefully upsetting our daughter was not a pleasant thing to do. It hurt me deeply to see my child like that, and knowing that I was the reason she felt that way made it even worse. Yuu and I were definitely in agreement on that point, so we decided that Erika just wasn't old enough to use her claws at will, and we settled for showing her mine and trying to make her understand how they worked. We'd deal with the rest of it when she was older.

It was around that same time that I received an official summons to Komui's office.

It was far from weird to be called down to the supervisor's office, but even when being summoned for a mission briefing, the message was never _that_ official. It was strange and had me very much on edge. Especially given that when I entered his office, he was awake and waiting for me. "Komui? What's going on? Why did you send for me like that?"

My questions went unanswered. Komui just stared solemnly at me and offered me a very official looking folder. I tried to prod him for more answers, but he refused to say a word, making it clear with his body language that he wasn't going to tell me anything until I looked at the file.

I took it with apprehension; the last time I'd seen a file with the Order's seal on it, I was being ordered off maternity leave. But once I looked inside the folder, all those feelings changed. I was beyond excited by what I read, but it wasn't until I looked back at Komui and saw the huge grin on his face that I was able to believe that what I'd seen was true. Central had finally promoted me. I was a general. "Congratulations, Allen."

I returned his smile. I may have given up on ever being promoted after the whole Altered thing, but I still desperately wanted this. I was ecstatic to finally be a general after all those years of hard work.

But then my initial paranoia and suspicion returned. It just didn't make sense that Central would change their minds and make me a general, not after all the crap that they put me through when I became a neko, and not when I clearly was altered by my Innocence. "I gave up on this years ago. What changed? Why did Central suddenly decide to promote me after basically saying that it was never going to happen?"

Instead of answering, Komui sighed heavily and offered me another official folder. "I believe that this will answer your questions, General. It's your first assignment."

My eyes went wide with both shock and excitement. It felt so good to be called by my new title, and I couldn't believe that Central already had a mission for me, so even though I was expecting something bad, I didn't hesitate to take the folder from Komui.

However, Komui didn't let go and fixed me with a very stern stare. "There are two things you need to keep in mind while you read it. The first is that I had absolutely nothing to do with this; I didn't even know that they were planning to promote you until the file landed on my desk this morning. The second is-."

I had stopped listening by that point and ripped the file out of his hands. The way Komui was babbling could only mean that he thought I wasn't going to like what was inside of it, and I could no longer wait for him to be ready to give the file to me.

I was crying before I finished reading the first page.

My first mission as a General was to take on an apprentice. I had been wanting my own apprentice for years, since back before Camilla joined the Order, and I was finally getting one. It should have been fabulous news. Except, there was only one accommodator at headquarters without a General. And I didn't have to see the picture attached to the file to know that that's who they were assigning to me. I was being ordered to officially start training my three year old daughter to be an exorcist.

Fear and anger kept me reading the file; I desperately needed to know what Central knew about Erika's Innocence. And I saw exactly what I expected to see. They knew about the incident with the robot. They knew that Erika had activated her Innocence.

"I'm sorry, Allen."

"You should be. This is all your fault." It took all of my self-control not to lash out at Komui. "If you wouldn't have built that stupid robot, none of this would be happening."

"Maybe not, Moyashi." I whirled around at the sound of my husband's voice, wondering when exactly he'd come in and how I hadn't noticed that he was there.

Yuu wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close to him, answering my unasked questions. "Komui told me everything about an hour ago. He was worried about how you'd take the news."

I stared suspiciously up at him, trying to figure out why he wasn't murdering the supervisor. "How are you so calm, Bakanda? Shouldn't you be just about ready to kill over this?"

He shook his head at me. "I don't know if you read that part of the file yet, but Central wants Erika to be trained by someone who can teach her the full range of her neko abilities. That's why they chose to promote you, because you're a neko like she is. But that's only because she activated her Innocence so young, and they were rushed into making a decision. If she had activated her Innocence at a normal age, they would have had more time to think about it, and they would have realized that I'm also qualified to teach her those things; maybe not as qualified as you, but certainly more so than anyone else. They would have assigned her to me instead of promoting you. Or maybe they would have given her to someone else. They could have just as easily given her to Cross or Teidoll. You may not like what happened, but Eri was going to activate her Innocence eventually, and this way, you get to be a general."

He definitely had a point there, but I couldn't decide if I wanted to give in or argue with him. Just because he made sense, didn't mean that I automatically felt better, and arguing was a good way to get that frustration out. But Yuu and I had been together for almost five years; he knew exactly what I was thinking in times like that. He usually let me bicker with him, since he liked to argue too, but this time he spoke before I could voice my complaints. "Moyashi, we've been training Erika since she learned how to walk. The only thing that has changed is your title. Actually, that's not quite true. If Eri is your apprentice, we won't have to call your mother to come babysit her anymore. You'll get to take her with you on every single one of your missions. And I know you desperately want that."

He was very right about that, and it pissed me off even more than I already was. I shoved him away from me, stomping on his foot in the process. "Dammit. Stop making good points and let me argue with you, Bakanda! She's still a baby! I don't want her to have to deal with any of this!"

Rather than upsetting him, that just made him laugh. "She's _your_ apprentice, Baka Moyashi. _You're_ the one who will be making the decisions about her training. She won't have to deal with anything you don't want her to."

All the fight left me with that revelation. I was so busy being angry over Erika having to be trained that I had forgotten that I would be the one training her. I slumped back against Yuu and buried my face in his chest. "Dammit. Now I just feel stupid."

"You are stupid, Moyashi." Yuu laughed, but he still wrapped his arms back around my waist and kissed the top of my head. "Come on, let's go tell everyone that you're finally a general. I'm sure Jerry will be happy to cook up a whole feast in celebration."

He suddenly moved, sweeping me off my feet so that he was carrying me bridal style. Not caring that we were in front of other people, he shot me a look loaded with sexual innuendo. "Or we can go celebrate in a different way. Eri will be studying with Emilia for another hour, so we've got plenty of time to have some fun without her interrupting..."

I laughed at that, Yuu could turn anything into a reason for sex, but my laughter was drowned out by my stomach growling. Yuu scoffed and rolled his eyes, but he still carried me from the room. "Cafeteria it is then."


	48. Author's Note

Part Three is up!

You can find it here: s/13240876/1/The-Neko-s-Dream


End file.
